The Camp “Luh-Jern” Correction

SS Gulfamerica, attacked by U-123 on April 10th, 1942, slowly sinks off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. (Released) north, silhouetted by the lights of Vilano. The ship was the SS Gulfamerica, a tanker on her maiden voyage out of Port Arthur, Texas, laden with 90,000 barrels of heating oil, bound for New York. She was making about twelve knots, four miles off the coast. As she passed Ponte Vedra, she stopped zigzagging. The Germans pursued her up the coast for forty-five minutes until she drew even with the brightly lit resort.

Trailing by about a mile, Hardegen launched a torpedo at a radical angle of attack in an effort to lynch the tanker right there in front of the crowd. It was like shooting from the hip. At 9:25 local time, the torpedo found its mark and a huge explosion reverberated up and down the coast. A pillar of reddish orange flame lept 500 feet into the air.

On board the Gulfamerica they knew what had happened and they knew they were sinking. This was the radio operator’s second sinking in thirty days. He began to send out an SOS as the rest of the crew began an organized effort to abandon ship.

On shore, people were dancing on the pier and walking up and down the boardwalk. The explosion rattled windows and people rushed to the beach to see what had happened. At first, they thought it was some sort of accident, maybe two ships colliding. The idea that a Nazi submarine was attacking one of our ships just off our coast was unimaginable.

Beachfront Fireworks. What happened next alleviated all doubt. For reasons that are still debated today, Hardegen piloted his sub around the stern of the Gulfamerica and placed his boat between the burning tanker and the shore. Now everyone could see the outline of Hardegen’s submarine as he shelled the Gulfamerica a dozen times with his deck gun and simultaneously opened up with his machine guns to take out Gulfamerica’ s radio antenna so that she could not send a distress signal. On shore, spectators watched in horror as what had begun as an orderly effort to abandon ship devolved into utter chaos. Lifeboat number 2 capsized and terrified men jumped off the vessel into the burning ocean.

The question that persists is, Why did Hardegen risk his boat and pilot it to the landward side of his victim? Shortly after the event, a Nazi propagandist ghost wrote an auto- biography for Hardegen that became one of the best-selling books in Nazi Germany. That book claimed that Hardegen had made the controversial maneuver in order to spare innocent lives on the beach, in case his guns overshot the tanker. That story remained and still persists to this day. When Hardegen came to Jacksonville in the early 90’s, the local paper labeled him a “humanitarian” for this act.

It seems more likely that Hardegen was trying to put on a spectacular show. In his logbook he writes that they “put on quite a show for the (tourists).” Hitler bragged about the sinking. Hardegen became an even bigger hero. Reinhard Hardegen did not go back to sea again. He was too valuable. He spent the rest of the war giving speeches at war plants. Sinking the Gulfamerica likely saved his life. He lived to the age of 105.

Shortly after he died in 2018, we were able to install a memorial marker remembering the nineteen men that died off of our coast by an act of war. The memorial is located at Oceanfront Park in Jacksonville Beach.

Scott A. Grant, among many things, is a local historian and author. He is best known for his research on the sinking of the SS Gulfamerica. He expects that ship will be mentioned in his ultimate obituary. Scott welcomes your comments at scottg@standfastic.com

By Joe Snowberger

Passage of Honor Our PACT Act Re-Energizes The Correct Pronunciation Campaign of Largest Marine Corps Base.

By now, most of us have seen or heard the commercials offering guidance about contaminated water lawsuits and claims for former Marines and anyone who served, worked or lived on the largest Marine base in the world.

Located in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and established in 1941, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune’s namesake is Lieutenant General John Archer Lejeune. He fought in World War I and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Marines of all time.

“He’s responsible for really saving the Marine Corps and for establishing our identity as an amphibious force,” said Camp Lejeune’s Public Affairs Director, Nat Fahy, in an interview. “He was our 13th commandant for nine years. He saved the Virginia Military Institute. He established the Marine Corps Ball, the Marine Corps Association.”

Perhaps the “Greatest leatherneck of all time,” Lieutenant General John A. LeJerne(ph).

Since the 1960’s the pronunciation of the general’s name and the base has been accepted as it is spelled; “kamp Luh-zhoon or Le-Jeune).” Even Google says that’s the correct pronunciation. Oops, turns out that is not quite correct.

The “Camp Lejeune (Luh-jern) Movement” is underway to re-establish the proper pronunciation of Camp Lejeune. Numerous interviews with the Lejeune family, historic records and the Marines website make it pretty clear that since the 1960’s the common pronunciation has been incorrect.

Following the general’s death in 1942 and with the passing of those from that era, the spelling of his name - having no “r” - resulted in it morphing from “Lejerne”(ph) to the “Le-jeune” pronunciation.

Former Marine and Gunnery Sergeant George Barrows (pronounced “Barros”) is credited with launching one of the grass-roots efforts to correctly pronounce the historic base and Marine legend’s name. He wears a hat while on the base with the phrase, “With respect, Lejerne,” to prompt a conversation.

Barrows shared in an interview, “They see my hat and they say, what’s that for? And then I tell them. And they say why? Say there’s no “r” in it. I say there is no “r” in colonel, either.”

Raised in the Cajun country of Louisiana, Lejeune graduated from the Naval Academy in 1890 and took a commission in the Marine Corps. Fighting in France in World War I with the Marines 2nd Division, he garnered much respect from his men for his fighting abilities and leadership. The French were also huge fans of Lejeune for his courage, strategic skills and ability to fluently speak and read French.

Serving our nation as a Marine from 1890 to 1937, several writers of the time called him the “world’s greatest leatherneck.”

It is going to take a while to reinstate the correct pronunciation of this American hero across the culture. New Marines are being instructed in boot camp and Marine leadership is also using the correct pronunciation. “Ultimately it’s about respect. It’s about respect for the greatest leatherneck of all time, the 13th commandant of the Marine Corps, and it’s respect for his family and respect for our traditions and our history,” Fahy said.