SON of Ernest W. and Anna Schimmelman, of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

He served SIX years in the U.S. Army before entering the Merchant Marines. He was serving as the Chief Cook on board the Liberty Ship SS Charles Henderson, when the ship exploded in Bari Harbor, Italy, on 09 April 1945.

++++++++++

Cleveland Plain Dealer
Cleveland, Ohio
Thursday, 03 May 1945
Page 11

One of two Clevelanders reported dead last
night was Merchant Seaman Ernest W. Schimmelman,
Jr., of 17002 Lake Shore Boulevard, N.E., who
was killed when a munitions ship exploded in
the Harbor of Bari, Italy, April 9.

WAS ARMY VETERAN
Seaman Schimmelman was an army veteran who
elected to continue serving his country in
the Merchant Marine. He was in the Army
from 1938 until last June (1944) and served
in Hawaii.

He was a cook aboard the merchant ship, Charles
Henderson. The ship blew up in Bari Harbor
while loaded with munitions with only one
survivor and two bodies being recovered.

Schimmelman was a former Collinwood High
School pupil and worked in the Hermit Tavern
968 E. 152nd Street, owned by his father,
Ernest W. Schimmelman.

Besides his father, he is survived by his
mother, and a sister, Mrs. Alveretta
Stevenson. Requiem mass will be sung for
the seaman Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at St.
Jerome's Catholic Church.

++++++++++

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&q=schimmelman%2C+ernest&bc=sl&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=5637570
ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 35303833 35303833
NAME SCHIMMELMAN#ERNEST#JR### SCHIMMELMAN#ERNEST#JR###
RESIDENCE: STATE 53 OHIO
RESIDENCE: COUNTY 035 CUYAHOGA
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 5323 CLEVELAND OHIO
DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 24 24
DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 04 04
DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 42 42
GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT# Private
GRADE: CODE 8 Private
BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION BI# Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
BRANCH: CODE 00 Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
FIELD USE AS DESIRED # #
TERM OF ENLISTMENT 5 Enlistment for the duration of the War or other
emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President
or otherwise according to law
LONGEVITY ### ###
SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 2 Enlisted Man, Regular Army,
after 3 months of Discharge
NATIVITY 53 OHIO
YEAR OF BIRTH 16 16
RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 1 White, citizen
EDUCATION 4 4 years of high school
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 071 Hotel and restaurant managers
MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents
COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 7 Selectees (Enlisted Men)
CARD NUMBER # #
BOX NUMBER 0921 0921

FILM REEL NUMBER 3.343 3.343

U.S. WWII Military Personnel Missing In Action or Lost At Sea, 1941-1946
Name: Ernest W Schimmelman
Date of Loss: 1
Branch: U.S. Coast Guard
Service number: Z562373
Status: Missing in Action

++++++++++

On 9 April 1945, the port of Bari, Italy, suffered its second catastrophic explosion of the war. The Liberty ship S.S. Charles Henderson, which had arrived in convoy UGS-80 from Norfolk Virginia on 5 April, was unloading its cargo of 6675 tons of high explosives, (1000-lb and 500-lb bombs) when it suddenly detonated at around noon. The explosion killed everyone on board the ship, and an additional 267 Italian nationals in the harbor. More than 1,000 more were wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Harper, interviewed in the Washington Post, described a “big crack, followed by another terrific one,” which threw him to the deck of his ship, anchored only 200 yards away. When Harper looked out of the porthole seconds later, the Charles Henderson had completely disappeared.

Everyone on board the Charles Henderson was killed. The only survivor among the crew was the Chief Engineer, who was ashore at the time. The deck house of the Charles Henderson was actually blown several hundred feet into the air by the force of the explosion, landing on a nearby pier; one month later, the deck house was still resting on the pier. The explosion damaged port installations near the ship, and 5 other vessels in the harbor caught fire, though none were damaged beyond repair. A warehouse collapsed, as did the roof of Bari’s 1,000-year-old cathedral.

The explosion killed 48 Americans and 318 Italians and eye-witnesses reported the smoke plume as high as 20,000 feet. This effectivily closed the Bari port until after the war ended.

Ernest Schimmelman Jr