Surnames: Peterson

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 05/17/1945

Peterson, Lorrin I. (1925? - 28 APR 1945)

Mr. and Mrs. Lorrin I. Peterson received a message from the war department on Tuesday saying their youngest son, Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class, Lorrin I. Peterson, was killed in action on April 28, 1945, somewhere in the Pacific. Lorrin, Age 19, a graduate of the Owen High School class of 1943, entered Navy service in Nov. 1943. He received his boot training at Great lakes and studied in an electrical school in St. Louis before goring overseas. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have two other sons serving overseas, and a fourth son, Orlyn, received a medical discharge last November after recovering from wounds received in the European Theater of War.

(Bio for Lorrin Provided provided by a niece to -

Susan N. Hochreiter
615 Berkshire Drive
State College, PA 16803
susannovak@aol.com )

LORRIN IVAN PETERSON

Date of Birth: September 24, 1925 in Curtiss, Wisconsin; youngest son of Henry and Bertha Peterson; brother to Armin, Evelyn, Franklin, Ramon, Kathryn, and Orlyn.

Deceased: April 24, 1945 (Killed in action, World War II)

Military History:

Lorrin entered the U.S. Navy on November 17, 1943 as a new recruit at the U.S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. He attended an electrical school for four months in St. Louis, Missouri. He was deployed as a fireman and attained the rank of Electrician’s Mate – 3C when he was assigned to an Edsall Class Destroyer, the SS Frederick C. Davis, which had many officers from Wisconsin. This ship, commissioned in 1943, had been renovated and returned to escort duty to the western Atlantic early in 1945 joining a special surface barrier force, formed to protect the Atlantic coast from the threat of close penetration by snorkel-equipped German submarines. On April 24, 1945 (almost two weeks before the German unconditional surrender on May 7) the destroyer was hit on the port side forward by a German torpedo (submarine U-546). Within 5 minutes the destroyer broke in two. Efforts to save the ship were scrapped and the survivors abandoned ship before it sank with a loss of 115 men. Other U.S. escort destroyers sank the U-546 later in the day. Lorrin was killed upon the torpedo’s impact. He was buried at sea. He was awarded the Purple Heart on August 7, 1945 for military merit and for wounds received in action received in action resulting in his death. (His name is engraved in the World War II Memorial in Battery Park, New York City, facing the Statue of Liberty.)

Personal:

Lorrin, the youngest of the 7 Peterson children, graduated from Owen High School with the class of 1943 where he excelled in football, basketball, and baseball. Shortly after graduation, at age 18, he joined the Navy (his three older brothers Armin, Ramon, and Orlyn had already joined the Army).