Tilden Dale Jenkins was born March 24, 1919 in Shelby (Shelby County) Alabama. He was the son of Don and Elsie Cody Jenkins. His father was a farmer. He finished 11 years of education and joined the Army Air Corps.

He married Eva Mae Boothe in Birmingham, Alabama on June 18, 1943 just he before he was ordered overseas. On November 27, 1943 he was a passenger on a British transport ship, the HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Algeria, His ship was attacked by a German remote-controlled rocket boosted bomb which sank his ship. Of the 2000 souls on board the HMT Rohna, 1138 were lost. This was the greatest loss of troops at sea in US history. This disaster was classified by the US and British governments and details were withheld from news organizations and the next of kin families. It remained classified until 1967.

Sergeant Jenkins is memorialized at the Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Alabama.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

This story of a Shelby County Alabama hero was written by Steve Brannan, Meadowbrook, Alabama. If any reader has more accurate information on this hero, or has better pictures, please email me at sbrannan@bellsouth.net. I am happy to update this story.

WW2fallen Sgt Tilden Dale Jenkins