DOB/DOD: February 25, 1922 (Norwalk, CT) – June 19, 1989 (Norwalk, CT); 67 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Alma C. Sideleau [born in Canada and U.S. Navy WAVES veteran] (1923-2003) on February 23, 1946, in Norwalk
CHILDREN: Three daughters, Geraldine Stahl Montgomery (1947-), Carol A. Stahl Presley (1949-), and Nancy Stahl Sober (1958-). One son, Robert (1951-).
LOCAL ADDRESS: 24 Fourth Street, 36 Gregory Boulevard, and 14 Tierney St
ENLISTMENT: September 30, 1942
SERVICE NUMBER: 6426363
DISCHARGE: January 7, 1946
SHIPS ASSIGNED TO: SS Pinckney, SS Caritas, SS Nyasa, and the USS Ancon
FAMILY: Born to John [born in Finland; U.S. Army veteran] (1895-1974) and Alice C. Griffin Stahl (1896-1970). Two sisters, Catherine J. “Jean” Stahl Moseley (1920-1996) and Rita A. Stahl Wheeler (1924-2012). One brother, Carl F. (1933-2013).
DECORATIONS: Received the World War II Victory Medal, Purple Heart Medal, American Theatre Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern ribbon with one battle star, the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Medal with 2 battle stars, the Philippine Liberation Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Onboard the SS Charles C. Pinckney when the ship was sunk by a German U-boat. Survived in a life raft with 13 others before being picked up. Wounded on D-Day +4. Aboard the USS Ancon, one of the first ships to enter Tokyo Bay after the Japanese surrender. Stories below.
OTHER: Worked for United Aircraft Company in Bridgeport, CT prior to the service. Served on the Norwalk Fire Department, 1949-1975 and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Norwalk High School, Class of 1939
From uboat.net
On 21 Jan 1943, the S.S. Charles C. Pinckney (Master Frank Theoron Woolverton Jr.) straggled from convoy UGS-4 in heavy weather. Early on the 27 January, lookouts spotted a U-boat; the master changed the course, increased the ship´s speed, and the armed guards fired at the U-boat (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in, and eight 20mm guns). At 2043 hours on 27 January, U-514 fired three torpedoes at the Liberty ship. A lookout spotted one of the torpedoes 750 yards away, approaching the ship off the port bow. The master tried to evade, but one torpedo struck just above the stern. The explosion ignited a portion of the cargo. The blast blew the bow off forward of the #1 hold and created a pillar of flame that shot skyward. The engines were immediately secured, and most of the nine officers, 32 crewmen, 27 armed guards, and two US Army security officers abandoned the ship in four lifeboats and one raft. A portion of the gun crew and the gunnery officer remained on board and opened fire at 2308 hours as U-514 surfaced 200 yards away. They claimed several hits and the sinking of the U-boat, but the Germans made an emergency dive and escaped undamaged. The crew reboarded the vessel, but the chief engineer discovered that he could not get steam up. At 2326 hours, a coup de grâce missed, but a second fired at 00.11 hours on 28 January hit, and all survivors abandoned ship a second time. The U-boat surfaced again, questioned the men in the lifeboats, and then left her victim in sinking condition, which later sank over the bow. The four lifeboats set sail, but during the night of 28 January, they became separated. On 8 February, the second mate, four men, and nine armed guards in one boat were picked up by the Swiss steam merchant Caritas I and landed at Horta, Fayal Island, Azores. The other three boats with eight officers, 28 men, 18 armed guards, and two passengers were never found.
From The Newport (RI) Mercury July 28, 1944
NEWPORTER WOUNDED IN FRANCE INVASION
John N. Stahl of Park-Holm, Gunner on Ship, Receives Purple Heart
Another Newporter, John Norman Stahl, wounded in the invasion of France on D-Day plus four, has been awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in action, the Navy Department announced today. Seaman Stahl, a gunner on one of the Navy’s larger ships, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Stahl of 68 Park Holm. He is now recuperating in a hospital in England, having spent three and a half weeks in a tent hospital on the Normandy front. It is believed that his wounds are not of a serious nature since all critical cases are taken immediately to England. Mrs. Stahl said she has received three letters from her son since he became a casualty and that he seems to be recovering quickly. He received the decoration on July 1. Enlisting in September 1942, Seaman Stahl received his basic training at Newport, after which he was placed in the armed guard. He also attended a gunnery school in Brooklyn, New York. In preparation for the invasion, he underwent instruction in England. The engagement on the French coast was not the first action for the veteran seaman who was torpedoed in the Atlantic Ocean on January 17, 1943. As a result, he was hospitalized for nine months, four of which he spent in Newport. He is a graduate of Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he and his family lived before coming to Newport.
From The Norwalk Hour November 10, 1944
John N. Stahl, Seaman First Class, has returned to his station in South Carolina after spending 14-day leave at his home on Fourth Street and also at his parents’ home in Newport, Rhode Island. He returned from the invasion, having received the Purple Heart for leg injuries. He was overseas for 10 months. While on leave, his engagement to Miss Alma Sideleu of Bridgeport was announced.
From The Norwalk Hour March 21, 1975, in a feature titled “Portraits and People”
FIRE CAPTAIN AND SAILOR, HE CHEATED DEATH THREE TIMES
The Board of Fire Commissioners of the Norwalk Fire Department has announced the retirement of Captain John N. Stahl, who asked for and received his retirement, effective March 16. Captain Stahl, who literally cheated death on three occasions, was appointed a regular on the NFD on August 31, 1949. He was elevated to the rank of Captain on September 7, 1962. Stahl, who resides on Prospect Avenue, Norwalk, joined the department in 1946 and served on the call force until his appointment. Stahl had a narrow escape while fighting the Norwalk Jewish Center blaze in sub-zero temperatures on February 10, 1962. The Norwalk native was attempting to locate pockets of fire on the first floor when the ceiling collapsed. According to The Hour account, at least a ton of debris fell to the floor, and Stahl might have been killed had it not been for the actions of fellow firefighter James Ellis. He spotted the upper area giving way moments before it collapsed and tackled Stahl in such a way that he did not get the brunt of the weight. Stahl still sustained painful back injuries and contusions and was hospitalized for two weeks. He was out of work for seven weeks. Ellis sustained a shoulder injury during his heroic act but refused medical treatment.
Prior to his joining the department he served with the United States Navy in World War II. Two brushes with death occurred while he was serving Uncle Sam. One narrow escape gained national attention in the newspapers. Stahl, a 1939 Norwalk High grad, joined the Navy in September of 1942. Four months later, the ammunition ship he was serving on was torpedoed and sunk by a German sub. A crew of 89 was on the ship. The Norwalk resident was one of 14 survivors. However, it was the aftermath of the tragedy that made the nation’s newspapers. Stahl and three of the remaining crew members escaped from a fiery death in a raft. But they spent the next 15 days bobbing along in the Atlantic Ocean. The Norwalk resident and his fellow survivors were finally spotted and rescued by a passing ship. They were taken to the Azores and hospitalized. They had survived on a diet of malted milk pills, a small can of iron rations (each day), and one small square of chocolate each night. Stahl lost 20 pounds during the ordeal, and shortly after being hospitalized, he was felled by rheumatic fever. The Norwalk resident spent four months in hospitals in the Azores and Newport, R.I., before he was fit to return to duty. Recalling the incident, which sunk the ship, Stahl told The Hour, “It was an awful feeling. We knew we were going to be hit. Our ship, the USS Charles C. Pickney, was in a convoy of about 50. If something happens, the convoy goes ahead without you. Our ship was smaller than most of the others, and we hit a bad storm and got separated. We were alone, and the next day, around noon, the German sub was spotted. We fired at it to let them know we had spotted them. But we all knew we were going to get it that night. A little after dark, the sub got us. I was in the galley when it happened. You can’t describe what it sounds or looks like when an ammunition ship is hit,” said Stahl.
In June of ’44, Stahl was on a ship that was part of the convoy heading for Normandy. Stahl, a gunner, was on deck when an enemy aircraft strafed the deck. The Norwalker was standing over 50 rounds of ammunition. The enemy plane fired and struck the ammo, but somehow, Stahl survived and sustained only shrapnel wounds in his legs. Stahl was awarded the Purple Heart. He returned to duty two months later and, on Easter Sunday of 1945, took part in the invasion of Okinawa. He concluded his service with the Purple Heart and two battle stars. During his 25-year tenure with the NFD, Stahl served one year as president of the Norwalk Chapter of the International Association of Firefighters. Stahl has been commended for “his long and devoted service to the citizens of Norwalk and the Norwalk Fire Department” by Fire Commissioners Francis J. O’Hara and John M. Kallaugher, Chief Eugene R. Seymour, and Mayor Donald J. Irwin.
The recently retired captain has four children. Geraldine, Carol, Robert, and Nancy.
From The Norwalk Hour June 21, 1989
Retired Fire Captain John N. Stahl, 67, of Connecticut Ave., died Monday at home. He was the husband of Alma Sideleau Stahl. Born in Norwalk, Mr. Stahl, son of the late John and Alice Griffin Stahl, was a WW II veteran of the U.S. Navy. Mr. Stahl graduated from Norwalk High School in 1939 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, spending his first months in the Navy Armed Guards, the men who manned the guns and military communications on Liberty Ships during World War II. Stahl was 20 years old and four months out of boot camp when his ship, the S.S. Charles C. Pinckney was torpedoed in
the North Atlantic in 1943. Of the 60 to 70 men on board, only 14, including Stahl, made it to the life raft. They spent the next two weeks adrift in the North Atlantic on rations of an ounce of water and a mouthful of pemmican a day each before they were picked up
and taken to the Azores Islands, owned by the neutral Portuguese government. Eventually, they were returned to the United States, where Stahl spent three months in the hospital before being assigned to a naval Post Office. He didn’t like that and found his way back to sea and the invasion of Normandy. He was in a convoy, standing on deck atop 50 rounds of ammunition, when an enemy plane fired and struck the ammo. He survived and sustained only shrapnel wounds in his legs. He received the Purple Heart. From there, it was out to the Pacific and the invasion of Okinawa. Then, he sailed up Tokyo Bay to watch General McArthur sign the peace treaty with Japan. Returning to Norwalk after the war, Stahl joined the Fire Department, where he served until he retired as a captain in 1975. The wanderlust bit again, and he crisscrossed the country by automobile for eight years before settling down again in Norwalk. He is a member of Norwalk Post 12, the American Legion, and the Eagles. In addition to his wife, Mr. Stahl is survived by one son, Robert John Stahl of Apple Valley, Minnesota; three daughters, Carol Ann Presley of Orlando, Florida, Geraldine Montgomery of Reno, Nevada, and Nancy E, Alexander of Atlanta, Georgia; one brother, Carl Stahl of Middletown, R.I.; two
sisters, Jean Mosley of Norwalk and Rita Wheeler of Burnsville, Minnesota, and six grandchildren. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Jerome’s Church. Interment will take place in St. John Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Collins Funeral Home, 92 East Ave. Contributions may be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, 232 Boston Post Road, Milford.
Buried in St. John’s Cemetery, 221 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut; Veterans Section, Lot 125.
Photo pending
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