August 10, 1917 (New Haven, CT) – September 9, 1942; 25 years old
Unmarried
Last local address: 1 Stevens Street, Norwalk
Service number: 505095
USS Muskeget (WAG-48)
Missing In Action (MIA) at sea
Born to Reverend George W. (1892-1939) and Rachel V. Fielding Van Alstyne (1896-). Sister Kathryn G. Van Alstyne Brady (1917-2004). Brother, Alan (1918-1984).
Awarded the Purple Heart Medal.
Son of Mrs. Rachael F. Van Alstyne, 114 W. 16th St., New York, NY, formerly of Stevens Street, Norwalk.
Quartermaster Third Class Walton Bennett Vail of Norwalk also died in this incident.
Norwalk High School Class of ‘36
Mission: North Atlantic Weather Patrol
Mission Date: 9-Sep-42
Location: Boston – Iceland
Cause: Torpedoed U-755
Complement: 34 merchant seamen, 9 commissioned officers, 107 enlisted men, 1 Public Health Service officer, 4 U.S. Weather Service employees; crew: of 121 MIA/KIA
Officers and crew of USS Muskeget (WAG 48) were lost at 1516 hours on September 9, 1942, when German U-Boat U-755 fired a spread of three torpedoes at an auxiliary vessel and heard two hits, followed by sinking noises. This must have been the USS Muskeget (WAG 48). All men on board were lost: nine officers, 107 ratings, one Public Health Service officer, and four civilian US Weather Service employees officially declared KIA 1 year and a day later in September 1943.
Built as an American steam merchant Cornish for Eastern SS Lines Inc, Boston MA, and served on the Great Lakes. On 29 Dec 1941 acquired by the US Navy and converted to the auxiliary patrol yacht USS YAG-9 by the Sullivan Drydock & Repair Co, New York. The vessel was armed with one 4in, one 3in, and four 20mm guns and two depth charge tracks and commissioned on 3 Jan 1942. She was assigned to the Third Naval District and used for patrol duty off New York until renamed and reclassified USS Muskeget (AG 48) on 30 May 1942.
On 1 Jul 1942, transferred to the US Coast Guard, reclassified as USS Muskeget (WAG 48) and assigned to the station at Boston for duty as a weather ship in the Weather Observation Patrol. The ship then patrolled on Weather Station No. 2 (53°N/42°30W) from 6 to 27 July.
Notes on the event: On 24 Aug 1942, the USS Muskeget (WAG 48) departed for her second patrol as weather ship on the Weather Station No. 2 (53°N/42°30W) and sent weather reports until 9 September, but then no further messages were received. When the weather ship USS Monomoy (WAG 275) failed to locate her on relief four days later, a combined search by aircraft and ships was carried out on 16 September but proved fruitless and the ship was reported missing.
From NOAA.gov, the USS Muskeget
Memorialized on the Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets of the Missing at the East Coast Memorial, Battery Park, New York City.
Memorialized at Riverside Cemetery, 81 Riverside Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut; Section 7a. Photo by webmaster.
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