I was born and raised in Newport News.  One of my book collections
includes "The Good Old Days of Hampton and Newport News" by Parke Rouse
Jr.  In it is a passage talking about a U Boat being sunk off Nags Head
and the dead sailors on board brought secretly onshore at night and
buried at Fort Monroe in Hampton.  Their gravestones still stand but the
general public never knew this happened at the time and that German
U-Boats were so close to our shores.  This came out so possibly other
"sinking" information may be public access now?  I know Cold War info
much newer is now public access.

Eric


-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Walter Waddell
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 10:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Oil spills on Virginia Shore during WWII
05111410Z10

An interesting observation for comparative purposes. It would appear
that this information might be, if not extremely difficult to dig out;
costly relative to its value - albeit for "shroud of secrecy" that
probably veiled it from general knowledge. Although a child at the time,
I never learned of the "sinkings" on the east coast until the 1950's:
partly because, maybe, people on the west coast were self centered on
the other foe. I remember nearly falling into a "pit trap" while playing
amongst the heavy shore batteries stationed on Point Loma, Calif. It was
very late in the War, and the Army command had become quite "loose" in
its attitude toward defense of the homeland - probably feeling quite
left behind - and not fully appreciate of having the luxury of being
"left behind".

A possible source might be the deck logs of ships that were permanently
stationed in the area and assigned to Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW).
Again, it's an expense to obtain; and, a pain to research as they are
extensive and just plain boring. Another area might be lighthouse or
life-station logs amidst U.S. Coast Guard records. Since U.S. Coast
Guard operations are transferred to the Navy (at least that was now it
was then - who knows now?) under wartime conditions, the Department of
the Navy's Historical section ought to have some "handle" on where this
information might reside. I also remember a "Life Magazine" front cover
"photo" of a uniformed patrol along a beach. The records from that
command might be more valuable depending upon what reporting
requirements were in place. Again, I would think it was a Navy
responsibility at the time.

Hopefully, someone has written about your observation; and, all this
work has already been done.

Regards, Ray 
 
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