Earle Jaye Robinson was born on June 4, 1918 in Carbondale, Pennsylvania to Ernest Roy Robinson (1890-1944) and Rose B. McCann (1890-1971). His parents were married in May 1917 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Both his parents were from Carbondale, Pa. The 1920 U.S. Census recorded the family living on 55 Grove St. in Carbondale, Pa. His dad was a carpenter and Earle was the oldest of their five boys. 

He married Anne Mae Ross on September 17, 1940 in Carbondale, Pa. with the consent of her father (she was not yet 18 years old). According to a marriage announcement in the newspapers, Earle was working at Scintilla in Sidney by that time. Scintilla was a large defense contractor that during Word War II made magnetos and ignition products for planes, tanks and even PT boats. On October 16, 1940 Earle registered for the draft.and reported living on Chestnut St. in Oneonta, NY, being 22 years old., 5'-11 1/2' tall and weighing 155 lbs. He had brown eyes and brown hair. They had a daughter Barbara Anne on October 22, 1942. Local newspaper accounts also noted he worked for the D&H Railroad in Oneonta for a time. 

Late in November 1943, the USS Leary departed the East Coast with escort carrier USS Card (CVE-11) on a hunter-killer operation. Early in the mid-watch 24 December, USS Leary suddenly found herself in the midst of a German submarine pack. Leary took two torpedoes within minutes of her discovery of the enemy and a third torpedo finally sank her. Ninety-seven members of the ship's company were lost, including S1c Robinson who was awarded the Purple Heart and is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. He was officially declared killed in action a year a day later, December 25, 1944.

If you notice anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact Jim Greenberg at nez13820@gmail.com. 

Sources

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriages, 1852-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Find a Grave, accessed at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56293810/earle-j-robinson, January 28, 2023.

"Former Oneonta Resident Declared Dead By Navy", The Oneonta Herald, Oneonta, NY, January 11, 1945, pg 9.

Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Earle J. Robinson, National Archives, St. Louis.

Leary 1 (Destroyer No. 158), published Feb. 25, 2016, Naval History and Heritage Command, accessed at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/leary-i.html, January 28, 2023.

Milner, Eugene D., Oneonta, The Development of a Railroad Town, EPI, Plainview, NY, 1997. pg.200. 

Palmer, I. Jeremiah, Scintilla – A Famous Name in Sidney, July 2008, accessed at https://www.dcnyhistory.org/Scintilla.pdf, January 29, 2023.

Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1968. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Wikipedia entry for USS Leary accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Leary_(DD-158), January 28, 2023.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Carbondale Ward 5, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1577; Page: 26A; Enumeration District: 22

Year: 1940; Census Place: Texas, Wayne, Pennsylvania; Roll: m-t0627-03627; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 64-34

Supporting Files