Enid Hinkes provides another report in memory of Weequahic’s fallen war heroes.
In major catastrophes at sea, two Weequahic students were killed enroute to their assignments. They were both awarded Purple Hearts as their deaths were the result of enemy action. Arthur Kucharski, who, according to the 1940 census lived at 168 Goodwin Avenue completed one year of high school (1938 0r 39) before entering the workforce.
Pictured here, Martin Pedinoff’s (1/41) Legend entry read “A feeling of much, a feeling of ease, Makes position secure, on life’s trapeze;
Orchestra, Ping Pong, Printing Workshop, German Club, College Prep, F & M.” He resided at 223 Schuyler Avenue.
Two Weequahic students were killed en route to their assignments in major catastrophes at sea. They were both awarded Purple Hearts as their deaths were the result of enemy action.
MARTIN PEDINOFF
From the Legend, January 1941:
223 Schuyler Avenue
“A feeling of much, a feeling of ease, Makes position secure, on life’s trapeze; Orchestra, Ping Pong, Printing Workshop, German Club, College Prep, F & M”
He was born on January 3, 1923. His parents were Louis and Ida Pedinoff. His father was a photographer. He had three brothers – David, Phillip and Seymour. His nephew and namesake, Martin Pedinoff is married to Ellen Wiener. (Weequahic June 1965)
Martin was a Corporal, USAAF 32nd Photographic Squadron, Reconnaissance Group.
On April 20, 1944, Pedinoff was a passenger on SS Paul Hamilton which was in a convoy enroute to Italy. The ship had a cargo of explosives and bombs as well as military personnel. The convoy was attacked in the Mediterranean Sea 30 miles off the coast of Cape Bengrit, near Algiers by 23 German bombers. The SS Paul Hamilton was struck and the ship and crew disappeared in 30 seconds, losing 580 lives. He and the other victims are memorialized at North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial, Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia, Tablets of the Missing.
ALBERT KUCHARSKI
Kucharski was born in 1921 in Ohio. – November 27, 1943, declared dead while missing..
The1940 census showed that he lived at 168 Goodwin Avenue with his father Joseph, mother Celia, older sisters Irene and Virginia, and younger brother Francis. He completed 1st year of high school and was employed in the manufacture of electrical machinery and accessories according to his enlistment record.
Albert was a Staff Sergeant with the 31st Signal Corps, Construction Battalion. He was on the troopship Rohna that left Oran, French Algeria in a convoy of 24 ships carrying troops and supplies on the way to the China-Burma-India theater. On November 26, 1943, off Bejaia, Algeria, the convoy was attacked by an estimated 30 German Luftwaffe Heinkel 177’s. One of the 177’s released a radio-controlled glide missile that hit the Rohna on her port side and she eventually sunk.
Three ships stayed behind to pick up the survivors, but it was dark, the water was cold, and the waves were high and rough. There was oil on the water and fire from the explosion. There were only 22 lifeboats, most of them nonfunctioning. They were able to rescue 986 men, but 1038 were killed, including 1015 US military personnel. It was the largest loss of US troops at sea due to enemy action in a single incident. The bodies of most of the men who died were never recovered. Albert was declared “Missing in Action” on November 27, 1943.
Because of the severity of the loss and the new technology used to sink the Rohna, the disaster was covered up, unacknowledged and remained classified for decades. The survivors were ordered not to discuss the attack under penalty of court martial. The full story was finally released in 1967.
Albert was memorialized at the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial, Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia, Tablets of the missing.
