Rome, NY WWII Fallen

3/M Edward Pawlowski

U.S. Merchant Marine #Z 151799

M/S WICHITA

Edward Pawlowski was born June 8, 1919, in Rome, Oneida County, New York, to Walesyan “Wally” (1892-1957) and Aniela “Nellie” Wojnar (1890-1975) Pawlowski, the first of three children born to the couple. Sophia Pawlowski Banks (1921-2003) and Frederick A. Pawlowski (1924-1992) were Edward’s siblings.

Wally was born in Poland and came to the United States in 1912. He first lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. On June 19, 1916, he married Aniela Wojnar in Chicago. Nellie was also born in Poland and came to the U.S. in 1911. Soon after their marriage, the couple permanently settled in Rome, New York.

In the 1920 U.S. Census, the family lived at 223 Henry Street in Rome, NY. Edward was seven months old. Wally worked as a roller at the Rome iron mill. In the 1930 U.S. Census, the family lived at 116 W. North Street, Rome, NY. Wally was employed by Rome Copper and Brass as a laborer in the metal mill. In the 1940 U.S. Census, the family continued to reside on North Street and Wally worked as a laborer in a wire mill. Sophia was a saleslady at a 5&10 store and Frederick was a student. In the 1950 U.S. Census, Wally and Nellie continued to live on North Street and Wally worked as a wire brazier at the wire mill.

Edward attended Rome public schools. and graduated from Rome Free Academy in 1937. He was an attendant and lifeguard at the South James playground swimming pool during the summers of 1936 and 1937. He earned an advanced certificate from the Red Cross and was appointed examiner of the American Red Cross Lifesaving Service. He directed the winter aquatic program of the YMCA in Rome which included swimming instruction, and lifesaving instruction and examination.

He received a cadet course appointment in the U.S. Merchant Marines (USMM). and in early January 1938, sailed on the S.S. Steelore from Baltimore to Chile and back via the Panama Canal, a trip of 38 days. When Edward reported for the USMM cadet course, he was assigned to the American Export Line ship, M.S. City of Dalhart, for training. In November 1938, friends in Rome received postcards from Edward sent from Haiphong, French Indo-China. Supplies and munitions were carried to the Chinese during these runs.

Edward was home for Christmas in 1939 and shortly thereafter was ordered back to duty aboard S.S. Exeter The S.S. Exeter carried a meteorologist who made observations of conditions at sea to aid American fliers. Later that year he registered for the draft on October 19, 1940, in Rome, Oneida County New York. He was 5’11” tall, weighed 185 pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. He listed his father, Wally, as “the person who will always know your address.” Edward listed his employer as American Export Lines, Jersey City, New Jersey.

In June 1941, Edward was home in Rome for a few days of leave. He earned this furlough following completion of a three-month intensive training course at the Maritime Service School in New York. From there he was assigned on the SS. Explorer sailing in “southern waters.”By February 1942, Edward was fully licensed and authorized by the U.S. Department of Commerce to serve on vessels of the U.S. Merchant Marines in the rank of third officer. He was aboard the (M/S) Wichita in 1942. On September 1, 1942, the Wichita left Takoradi (now part of Ghana) with a load of general cargo, heading west for St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and then to New York. On the morning of September 19, 1942, the unescorted ship was spotted by a German submarine about 300 miles east of Barbados. The third torpedo launched by the submarine hit the Wichita between the foremast and bridge, causing the M/S Wichita to sink in less than a minute. The crew consisted of forty Merchant Mariners and ten U.S. Navy Armed Guards. No survivors nor lifeboats were found.

At 06.48 hours on 19 September 1942 the unescorted Wichita (Master Herman Swain Chessman) was hit on starboard side between the forward mast and the bridge by one G7e torpedo fired from a stern torpedo tube of U-516 and sank in less than one minute about 75 miles south of Barbados. The ship was zigzagging at 11.5 knots and had been missed with a spread of two torpedoes at 06.05 hours. The Germans searched the sinking position but sighted no lifeboats or survivors, the ten officers, 30 crewmen and ten armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and four .50cal guns) were lost.

Edward’s parents, Wally and Nellie, received word on November 23, 1942, that Edward was lost or missing at sea. On January 11, 1943, Edward Pawlowski was listed officially as “missing in war action” on the Merchant Marine Casualty List No. 4, released by the U.S. Navy.

On December 18, 1942, Wally received notice that Edward had been commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on August 28, 1942. The Naval Office of Procurement was seeking news of Edward’s whereabouts. Edward never received word of his commission.

In February 1943, Wally was granted letters of administration for Edward’s estate, valued at $2,600.

December 13, 1944, the Rome Daily Sentinel reported Edward was posthumously awarded the Mariners’ Medal, the highest award offered by the U.S. Merchant Marine. The medal was presented to Wally Pawlowski, Edward’s father, by Admiral E. S. Land, War Shipping Administrator, “in commemoration of the greatest service anyone can render cause or country. Mr. Pawlowski was serving on the M.S. Wichita, which on September 1, 1942, was reported missing with all hands. He was one of those men who today are so gallantly upholding the traditions of those hearty mariners who defied anyone to stop the American flag from sailing the seas in the early days of this republic. He was one of those men upon whom the Nation now depends to keep our ships afloat upon the perilous seas; and to carry to them the vitally needed material to keep them fighting until victory is certain and liberty secure. Nothing I can do or say will, in any sense, requite the loss of your loved one. He has gone, but he has gone in honor and in the goodly company of patriots. Let me, with this expression of the country’s deep sympathy, also express to you its gratitude for his devotion and sacrifice.”

3/M Edward Pawlowski is remembered on Page 11367, US Rosters of World War II Dead 1939-1945, and in the Rome Sentinel, Rome, New York, May 7, 1945, page 6, Romans Who Gave Their Lives in World War II. He was posthumously awarded the Rome Medal of Honor. Edward is a Gold Star WWII Veteran from New York on the honorstates.org website and listed by the American Battle Monuments Commission as a WWII Honoree.

3/M Edward Pawlowski is remembered on the United States Navy Memorial, Honoring the Men and Women of the Sea Services, located in Washington, D.C.

Edward was one of thirty alumni of Rome Free Academy remembered in their 1946 yearbook, De-O-Wain-Sta. “In Memoriam – These are the valiant alumni of our school who gave themselves in service to God and Country.”

Bob Hope's “Christmas 1944 Broadcast to the U.S. Merchant Marine Everywhere,” featured Bob Hope and the crew of an American merchant vessel, who were steaming up and preparing to leave for a Pacific fighting front, It was presented over the NBC coast-to-coast network on December 23, 1944, under the auspices of the United Seamen's Service, and arranged by A. B. Larsen, USS West Coast Publicity Representative. The following is Bob Hope’s introduction:

"This is Bob Hope speaking to you from Hollywood. Three days from now we'll be celebrating Christmas here in the United States. We'll gather around Christmas trees with our children and exchange presents with those we love. Merry Christmas with stars on the Christmas tree and stars in the eyes of our kids.... and stars in the windows of our homes. Blue stars for those still at home. Gold for the men who'll be spending Christmas with God. And silver stars for the ones over there, like the boys I'm going to introduce to you in a moment.
They're Z-men. Did you ever hear of Z-men? Sounds like a gag, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. Z-men are the guys without whom General "Ike's" army and Admiral Nimitz' navy couldn't live. Five thousand seven hundred of them have died from enemy torpedoes, mines, bombs or bullets since our zero hour at Pearl Harbor.

Z-men are the men of the Merchant Marine. They carry a big wad of identification papers in a book called a Z book, so they call them Z-men. They're union men, too. They work for scale. Yeah, scale! Joe Squires worked for scale. He was a seaman on the S. S. Maiden Creek. He and Hal Whitney, the deck engineer, stayed aboard to handle the lines so the rest of the crew could get away before the Maiden Creek sank under waves thirty feet high. The crew was saved. They never saw Joe or Hal again. Did anyone ever make a wage scale big enough to pay for a man's life? Joe and Hal gave theirs voluntarily. So did 5,698 others. Did anyone ever devise a scale big enough to make men brave?

Listen, it takes nerve to go to work in a hot engine room, never knowing when a torpedo might smash the hull above you and send thousands of tons of sea water in to snuff out your life. It takes courage to sail into the waters of an enemy barbaric enough to tie your hands and feet and submerge you so you can drown, like a rat, without a fight. It takes courage to man an ammunition ship after you heard how Nazi bombers blew up 17 shiploads of ammunition at Bari and not a man was ever found of the crews. I was there about that time. I'll never forget it. Neither will men like Admiral King, who said, "The Navy shares life and death, attack and victory with the men of the U. S. Merchant Marine." Yeah, it's Merry Christmas Monday for a lot of us except the boys of the Army, Navy and Merchant Marine. Our Z-men will be on the high seas or in ports far away from home, like a crew you're going to meet right now.

Before this program is over you'll hear their ship leaving with another cargo for the war zone, a cargo like 500,000 tons of vital supplies and the 30,000 troops the Merchant Marine delivered for General MacArthur in the first three weeks on Leyte. Like the 70,000,000 tons it delivered to all the fighting fronts in 1944. Seventy million tons! Ninety percent of all the war supplies we used all over the world. These boys won't be in the United States for Christmas. so the USS - United Seamen's Service - is providing them with an early Christmas party which we're all invited to attend."

After graduating from Rome Free Academy in 1942, Frederick Pawlowski, Edward’s brother, worked at the Rome Air Depot. Frederick enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marines in December 1942, after receiving the news that Edward was lost at sea. He trained for three months in Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, and sailed to South America, Italy, and Europe. In December 1944, Frederick was a quartermaster on a troop transport ship carrying soldiers to the European Theater and bringing home wounded and hospital cases.

Cpl. Frank J. Banks, husband of Sophia Pawlowski, joined the Army Air Corps in April 1943. In December 1944, he was serving with the ground crew of the 20th Air Force B-29 Super fortress base in India.

In September 1946, a Welcome Home Day celebration was held in Rome, New York, to honor the city’s 420 Polish-American veterans. Among those in attendance were the parents of the eleven young men who gave their lives in World War II. An honor roll was dedicated at the Polish Home in Rome, NY.

In April 1949, work began on a cemetery monument in memory of the Polish-Americans from the Rome, New York, area who sacrificed their lives in World Wars I and II. The War Monument Committee was organized at the All Saints Polish National Catholic Church. Wally and Nellie Pawlowski were members of the committee. The monument was unveiled in a ceremony on Sunday, May 29, 1949, at the All Saints Polish National Cemetery, Rome, New York. Names of the war dead, including Edward Pawlowski, are engraved on the granite monument which features an American eagle, Latin crosses, and emblems of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force.

Wally Pawlowski died July 16, 1957, and was interred in All Saints Polish National Cemetery, Rome, New York. He was retired since 1952 due to ill health. He was a member of the Frank J. Steczko Post, Polish-American Veterans, in Rome. Nellie Wojnar Pawlowski died December 12, 1975, and is interred alongside her husband. Nellie was a member of the Rome Chapter of Gold Star Mothers and the Auxiliary of the Frank J. Steczko Post, Polish-American Veterans in Rome.

“Nearly 250,000 civilian merchant mariners served as part of the U.S. military during World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, a total of 9,521 merchant mariners lost their lives, a higher percentage than any branch of the U.S. military. In May 2020, U.S. Merchant Mariners of WWII were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their dedication and vital service in support of the war effort despite facing significant dangers at sea. This medal is considered the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.” (from Bob Fuerst, STARS – Stories Behind the Stars Project)

End notes: This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars Project, a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3 web sites. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact hillerson@beyondbb.com.

Sources:

FindAGrave.com:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86140044/edward-pawlowski

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11686528/wally-pawlowski

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11686526/nellie-pawlowski

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21722488/sophia-banks

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11686176/frank_j-banks

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39706537/frederick-a-pawlowski

Fold3.com:

https://www.fold3.com/image/671442780/pawlowski-edward-page-1-us-wwii-draft-registration-cards-1940

https://www.fold3.com/image/671442781/pawlowski-edward-page-2-us-wwii-draft-registration-cards-1940

https://www.fold3.com/image/671442830/pawlowski-frederick-alexander-page-1-us-wwii-draft-registration-cards-1940