William Durr was born Rome, Oneida County, New York on May 2, 1917. From the Ancestry.com website, we learned that his mother was Elizabeth Durr. His father was John Durr. William had three brothers and five sisters. The 1930 U.S. Census recorded the family living on South James Street, Rome, NY.
1930 U.S. Census
William dropped out of high school and went to work for General Cable Company. On July 2, 1938 he married Bertha Eisinger. They lived at 142 North Crescent Road in Rome. They had four children; William, five, Donna, four, Constance, one and Jack, a newborn.
Upon receiving his draft notice, William immediately joined the Navy on December 23, 1943 at 26 years of age. He was sent to basic training at Samson Naval Base in Romulus, New York. At the completion of “Boot Camp”, Durr was mustered aboard the newly built ammunition ship USS Mount Hood (AE-11). He attained the rating of Seaman, First Class with a Navy Service Number of 801 19 48.
Bertha Eisinger - 1937 Rome Free Academy Yearbook
Muster Roll for USS Mount Hood, November 1944 Showing S1C Wiliam J. Durr from Utica, NY
USS Mount Hood (AE-11) was the lead ship of her class of ammunition ships for the United States Navy in World War II. She was the first ship named after Mount Hood, a volcano in the Cascade Range in the US state of Oregon. On 10 November 1944, shortly after 18 men had departed for shore leave, the rest of the crew were killed when the ship exploded in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The ship was obliterated while also sinking or severely damaging 22 smaller craft nearby.
USS Mount Hood
A board convened to examine evidence relating to the disaster was unable to ascertain the exact cause. However, the official Navy report noted that the vessel had a "relatively inexperienced crew," with a "lack of leadership among the officers, and lack of discipline among the crew," as well as "a general lack of posting safety regulations for handling ammunition, and instruction of the crew therein." As a result, the report noted, this lack of training "was reflected in rough and careless handling of ammunition and lack of enforcing prohibition of smoking in boats alongside the U.S.S. Mount Hood. The stowage condition of boosters, fuzes and detonators in number one hold was dangerous. In holds numbers two and three there were stowed broken rocket bodies from which some of the powder had spilled." The report further noted that "Pyrotechnics and napalm were stowed in an open temporary wood and tar paper hut on deck under hazardous conditions near the hatch to number four hold." This was also near the most likely source of the accident, as the initial explosion occurred "amidships near number three or four hold." As such, the report concluded that "the most likely cause of the explosion was careless handling of ammunition" aboard the ship.
After only a little over four months' service, Mount Hood was struck from the Naval Register on 11 December 1944.
Tragically, William Durr was one of the 350 sailors killed in that explosion. None of the bodies were recovered. He and the rest of the crew were memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing in Manila, Philippines. They were awarded a Purple Heart posthumously.
Carl’s mother Elizabeth was given a Gold Star flag to hang in her window at 411 South James Street in Rome, NY. This was recorded in the U.S. Navy Casualties Books.
RESOURCES:
National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For New York State, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147
U.S., Navy Casualties Books: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/38050:2324?tid=&pid=&queryId=3d97f6ef-58e2-4b25-8d3c-0ca3ae005e15&_phsrc=hWQ24&_phstart=successSource
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mount_Hood_(AE-11)
USS Mount Hood Navy Muster Rolls, WWII: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/36921087:1143?tid=&pid=&queryId=56f77573-51bc-4843-9434-3bcfc723f458&_phsrc=hWQ32&_phstart=successSource
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56751676/william-joseph-durr
World War II Scrapbook from the estate of Army veteran Robert Albert Mieskiel (1930-2014) of Rome, NY. Donated to the Oriskany Museum Collection in May 2016.
Year: 1930; Census Place: Rome, Oneida, New York; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0044; FHL microfilm: 2341354
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