The _Virginia Cavalcade_ had an article entitled "Buried on Foreign Soil:
German Submariners in Hampton, Va."  in vol 39:2 (Autumn, 1989) by A. J.
Chewning. The circumstances described in the article do not match those
noted in your question, but the dead sailors were indeed buried in 1942 with
full military honors (no flags or music, however) in Hampton Nat'l Cemetery.
These U-Boat sailors were lost in the attack by the destroyer USS Roper, off
Bodie Island, NC. There were no survivors of the attack. Hope this helps.
John Hopewell, LVA.

-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Cabell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 1:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hampton uber alles


I note with some sadness that the plans to honor the men of the CSS Hunley
down in Charleston, SC have been trashed by some few as 'honoring a regime
which was every bit as bad, and commited atrocities as bad as the NAZIs.'
But as a partial answer, I wonder if anybody can help me with a bit of
Virginia history, also involving an 'enemy' submarine.

My father was army liason officer at the 5th Naval District in Norfolk
through most of WWII.  After the war, he told a story of one of the first
sinkings of a German UBoat off the Virginia capes, probably late 1942 or
early 1943.  It seems a PBY on patrol caught U-____ on the surface charging
its batteries, dropped bombs or depth charges set to minimal depth and sank
it.  The PBY, running low on fuel then radioed its location (before GPS!)
dropped life rafts to survivors and returned to Norfolk.  Navy ships and
aircraft could not find it when they reached the area.  Two or three days
later, a smart staff officer realized the sub was in the Gulf Stream when
sunk, so calculated the northward movement, dispatched rescue craft, and
there they found the survivors and unfortunately the bodies of many who had
died from exposure.

To make a long story short, a funeral with full military honors was given
the dead crew members at the US Military Cemetery in Hampton -- German
flags, German music ('Deuschland uber alles', I guess).  I have never read
of this anywhere, and 20 minutes ago was unsuccessful finding anything about
it at the Library of Virginia or the Hampton Military Cemetery.

Can anybody point me to a source for further information?

Randy Cabell

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