William Arthur  Ellinger was born Oriskany, Oneida County, New York on March 7, 1927. From the 1930 U.S. Census, we learned that his mother Gertrude, 31, had six children living at home at this time; John ten years old, Howard, eight, Richard, six, James, five, and Gertrude, one. His father, John, 31, was a foreman at a wire mill. They lived at 412 De Peyster Street in Rome, New York.

1940 U.S. Census Entry for the Ellinger Family

Ten years later, the family had moved to Route 3, still in Rome. Father John was then working as a foreman of the rubber covering department at the wire factory. William, then 13, was in the seventh grade at school.

William dropped out of Oriskany High School, only two weeks after his seventeenth birthday. He immediately joined the Navy on March 22, 1944 in Albany, NY. Ellinger was sent to basic training at Samson Naval Base in Romulus, New York. At the completion of “Boot Camp”, Ellinger 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 601 74 76.

Sept. 30, 1944 U.S.S. Mount Hood (AE-11) Muster Log

The 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.

U.S.S. 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 Ellinger, still 17 years old, 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.

Ellinger's father John was given a Gold Star flag to hang in his window Route 2 in Rome, New York. This was recorded in the U.S. Navy WWII Casualties Books.

RESOURCES:

U.S., Navy Casualties Books: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/38110:2324

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mount_Hood_(AE-11)

1930 U.S. Census: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/43596686:6224?tid=&pid=&queryId=d12776ea-2649-4057-bea9-1d15248cff19&_phsrc=hWQ67&_phstart=successSource

1940 U.S. Census: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/8268238:2442

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

Sampson Naval Training Base: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a96c4fe05cadec6&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS898US898&sxsrf=ACQVn0-b2EtrLiway3_nVFYwQalWOUHnaA:1706804712107&q=Sampson+Naval+training+base+wwii&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimmsOEx4qEAxWBQjABHQZhAmsQBSgAegQICBAC&biw=1366&bih=599&dpr=1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56751727/william-arthur-ellinger

New York State, Birth Index: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3367483:61667

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.