James Stephen Scribner was one of 819 soldiers and crew members lost in the sinking of the SS Leopoldville off the coast of France on Dec. 25, 1944. The troopship was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat 486.

James was born on Oct. 8, 1925, in Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, to Orville Chester Scribner and Thelma May Freeman Scribner. His father was a molder and his mother was a homemaker to their three children: Catherine, Stephen, and Orville. His father died in 1935 of heart disease at age 32. His mother remarried to John Rosetto and had a daughter named Nancy.

James attended Centennial Junior High School in Decatur and Manual Training High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the family had moved. He worked for Kibler Trucking Co. in Indianapolis and married Miss Edith Nelson. They had a daughter named Linda.

James entered the army in May 1944 at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. He served as a 5-foot-8, 130-pound private with Company L, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. His service number was 35903716.

The 66th Infantry Division was activated on April 15, 1943, at Camp Blanding, Florida, and later transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas. The division was sent to Camp Rucker, Alabama, for transport to the European Theatre of Operations.

The men arrived in England on Dec. 12, 1944, and trained until Dec. 24, 1944, when they were ordered to the front as replacements. They boarded two Belgian steamships, the SS Chesire and the SS Leopoldville. Prior to the conflict, the SS Leopoldville was a Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo passenger liner.

The loading of the 2,223 reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments was chaotic. The troopships were not loaded by regiment and many of the officers were not present. The instructions for abandoning ship, use of life savers, and supervised lifeboat drills were minimal at best. The abandon ship order, when it came, was given in Flemish instead of English.

The ships sailed from Southampton, England, to Cherbourg, France, as part of the WEP-3 convoy. Pvt. Scribner was aboard the Leopoldville when it was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1944, by the German submarine U-486. Some 763 soldiers and 56 of the Leopoldville’s crew died.

The original explosion in Cargo Hold 4 flooded E-4, F-4, and G-4 compartments. An estimated 300 men were killed by the blast and flooded holds. The English Channel was experiencing swells of 8 feet to 12 feet in height, hampering UMS Brilliant’s attempts to rescue soldiers on ship and in the water. Some 493 of the 763 casualties were never recovered from the 48-degree waters.

Pvt. Scribner’s remains were recovered and buried in Plot C, Row 7, Grave 20 at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He also has a cenotaph in Marion National Cemetery in Grant County, Indiana.

In September 1945, the Soldier’s Medal was presented to his widow for his heroics during the sinking.

“After his troopship had been rocked by an explosion,” the citation reads, “Pvt. Scribner voluntarily and without regard for personal safety returned to the hold of the sinking ship to aid in the rescue of men trapped in one of the lower compartments, which was almost completely filled with water and wreckage.”

He was later lost in this action.

Commendations:

Purple Heart

Stories Behind the Stars:

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 smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen’s name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing

in this profile, you can contact the author, jrutherford5810@gmail.com.

Resources:

Photos of Victims - Leopoldville Troopship Disaster

SS Léopoldville (1928) - Wikipedia

SS Leopoldville - Picture - Image - Photo (shipwreckworld.com)

Memorials in Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial - Find a Grave

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial – Wikipedia

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56649805/james-stephen-scribner

James S. Scribner