From the June 6, 2010, Coast Guard Compass "WWII Coast Guardsman receives Purple Heart" by Christopher Lagan.
Harry Milton Daube, 88, the last surviving member of the crew of the USS Leopold, sunk by a German U-boat March 9, 1944, in the North Atlantic near Iceland, received a long overdue Purple Heart Medal from the commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville.
Daube was a seaman first class at the time and one of only 28 survivors when the ship sank. All 13 officers died as did 158 of 186 enlisted men. The men waited on life rafts (some in the water hanging onto the rafts) as their ship split in two and sank beneath the waves.
He was rescued by the USS Joyce and returned to New York City. He continued his Coast Guard service until the end of the war.
The Purple Heart is the oldest military decoration in the world and awarded in the name of the president of the United States to servicemen and women wounded or killed in combat. Earlier this month I wrote about the Purple Heart Medal of Clyde Ballenger who lost his life on the Leopold. However, he received his during the war, but it somehow became lost until earlier this year.
Mr. Daube's arrived just 66 years late.
Better Late Than Never. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Thank you for acknowledging My Grandfather Harry Daube..... 66 years was a bit long to thank him for his service.....
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