Ramon Allen was born March 15, 1924 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The US Census records list his middle initial/name as Arlyn, but his military records list his middle name as Rexford.

Ramon’s parents were Willard J and Maude E Bliss Allen. Ramon was the 8th of nine children, seven boys and 2 girls. During the war years, all seven boys were enlisted in some kind of military or civic duties: one brother was a judge, two were in the army, 2 in the navy, one building ships, and one building aircraft. Ramon was one of the Army boys. He had attended Granite High School.

The draft registration card for Ramon was signed June 30, 1942. He was listed as 5’9-1/2” tall, 177 pounds with blue eyes, brown hair and a freckled complexion. He also is listed as having a diagonally scar on his left hand.

Ramon enlisted in the army on January 7, 1943 and was inducted into the Army on January 14, 1943 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received his training at Jefferson Barracks, Brookley Field, Alabama and Dryersberg, Tennessee. His service number was 39906599.

Sgt. Allen was a part of the 853rd Engineering Division. He was a passenger on the HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean Sea. The Rohna was not a military ship. Like many others it was taken into use as a troop transport. At the end of its service, it had picked up 2,000 mostly US troops in Oran, Algeria to take them to India where the 853rd Engineering Battalion would be used to build runways for large planes. It was Thanksgiving Day and their meal had been canned chicken and weevil-filled bread.

“The following late afternoon, as the convoy sailed roughly a dozen miles off the North African coast, about 30 German aircraft swooped in. The ships responded by opening fire, putting up a thick smoke screen and attempting to electronically jam the Nazis’ bomb frequencies. With the assistance of Allied fighter planes, they destroyed several German bombers while initially suffering very little damage of their own. During the second wave of the attack, however, a German bombardier guided a remote-controlled glider bomb—a precursor to today’s “smart” missiles—into the Rohna about 15 feet above the waterline. The subsequent explosion started an engine room fire, sent debris flying and knocked out the ship’s lights, communications systems and water pressure. It also punctured holes in the sides so large that, as one survivor put it, “you could drive a truck through.

“An estimated 300 men died in the blast, and the casualty toll only grew from there, arguably due in part to the Rohna’s deficiencies. Of the 22 lifeboats onboard, most were either destroyed by the bomb, defective or mishandled. And the remainder were “old, beaten up things,” one survivor asserted. At least some of the ship’s 101 rubber life rafts were likewise unusable, and the men apparently never received proper instructions on how to inflate their life belts. Within an hour or so, the Rohna disappeared below the surface, and all those who hadn’t yet jumped into the water were forced to do so. Many were sucked under the ship never to reappear; others found themselves covered in leaking oil. The cold, darkness, big swells and strong currents also took their toll, as did German strafing fire.”

“This was the first successful ‘hit’ of a merchant vessel at sea carrying US troops by a German remote-controlled, rocket-boosted bomb, thus giving birth to the ‘Missile Age’, and it resulted in the greatest loss of troops (1,015) at sea in US history. Combined with the loss of ship’s crew and officers, and three Red Cross workers, more lives were lost than on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

The minesweeper USS Pioneer rescued 606 survivors, while other ships were able to rescue a few more, many of whom died later.

Lost that day, November 26, 1943, were 1,138 men including Sgt. Allen.

To prevent the Germans from realizing how successful their attack had been, it was not until 1993 that the details of the attack were released. Even their families were unaware of the extent of the accident. A Congressional resolution in 2000 sponsored by Congressman Jack Metcalf said, “The men who gave their lives for their country on board this ship were heroes who deserve to be recognized and not forgotten. All Americans need to learn of their bravery and sacrifice.”

His body was never recovered, but he is mentioned in the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Carthage, Tunisia and in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. For his service he received a purple heart.

Sources:

Newspapers.com (Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah) July 24, 1943

Newspapers.com (Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah) 30 December 1943

Newspapers.com (Deseret News, Salt Lake City. Utah) 22 May 1944

US, Find A Grave Index

Utah, Military Records, 1861-1970

Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations

US, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

US, World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

1940 US Federal Census – Salt Lake, Utah

1930 US Federal Census – Salt Lake, Utah

US, World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

US, Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945

US, World War II Military Personnel Missing in Action or Lost At Sea, 1941-1946

National Archives, aad.archives.gov

“A Calamity at Sea, 70 Years Ago”, history.om/news/a-calamity-at-sea-70-years-ago

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.

Ramon R Allen