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THE CAPTURE of U-505 How a Lithuanian American Became a Naval Hero of the Battle of the Atlantic

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THE CAPTURE of U-505 How a Lithuanian American Became a Naval Hero of the Battle of the Atlantic Zenon B. Lukoðius and THE CAPTURE OF U-505 How a Lithuanian American Became a Naval Hero of the Battle of the Atlantic By Henry L. Gaidis OST HISTORIANS WILL AGREE packs” sailing from that World War II in Europe European coastal Mwas won on the beaches of fortifications to ra- Normandy, through the hedgerows vage allied convoys of France, across the rivers into Ger- bound for En- many and in the sky over the German gland and Russia. Zenon Lukoðius inside the U-505 during one of his later heartland. Still, the war could have Such attacks proved visits to the German submarine he helped to capture. been lost during the Battle of the At- very successful dur- lantic, the longest continuous cam- ing the first years of the war, and Task Group 21.12. Sailing aboard paign of the war. England required many felt that England would not his flagship, the Guadalcanal, Gal- more than a million tons of import- survive the blockade. To upgrade its lery’s task force soon sank U-544. ed matériel per week to survive and ability to communicate with its wolf Observing how U-boat crews aban- fight. Likewise, the island nation was packs at sea, the Kriegsmarine, in doned ship when sinking, he develop- essential to a United States invasion 1942, began to install a new version ed a plan to force one to surface and of Europe. For the most part, the of its secret Enigma communication capture it before it could be scuttled. campaign pitted the German Navy’s coding machine in its U-boats. The On April 9, 1944, Gallery, using Unterseeboot (German, U-Boot; En- capture of one of these new Triton the 24-hour flight operations he had glish, U-boat) against Allied ships encrypting machines became vital to pioneered, forced U-515 to the sur- delivering vital supplies to England. the Allied war effort. Although sev- face, but the vessel was too damaged Winston Churchill coined the term eral were captured during the war, to be boarded. The night his aircraft Battle of the Atlantic and described allowing Allied code breakers to lo- caught U-68 on the surface in broad it as the “longest, largest, and most cate U-boats at sea, the story of the moonlight, they sank her with only complex” naval battle in history. capture of U-505 was surely one of one survivor caught on deck as she The Allied Nations were finally vic- the most heroic U.S. Naval opera- attempted a crash dive. In June 1944, torious in the battle, which saw over tions of the war. Gallery, commanding Task Group 3,500 merchant ships and 175 war- No American ship had captured an 22.3, attacked U-505, and his dream ships lost; but the Allies, led by the enemy vessel on the high seas since of boarding a German submarine on U.S. Navy, kept England’s sea lanes the War of 1812, and few thought a the high seas and capturing its secret open, escorting convoys that often capture by boarding was possible in Enigma coding machine before it numbered over 100 vessels. It has the age of modern warfare. The idea went under came true. The quick been estimated that over 1,000 ship of taking a U-boat at sea was the thinking of a young Lithuanian encounters took place, during which brainchild of Admiral Daniel Vin- American sailor from Chicago would at least 783 U-boats were sunk and cent Gallery, a career officer who saw help him capture that German sub- the German Navy virtually destroyed. extensive service during World War marine. Had it not been for the courage and II. In 1942, he served as command- According to the Cook County, fortitude of the U.S. Navy, there may er of the Fleet Air Base in Reykjavik, Illinois, Birth Certificates Index, not have been a Normandy landing Iceland, providing air cover to con- Zenon Benedict Lukoðius was born or total victory in the European The- voys crossing the Atlantic. In 1943, in Chicago on August 24, 1918 to ater. he was given command of the USS Lithuanian American immigrants, Key to the German naval effort was Guadalcanal, a newly commissioned Paul Lukoðius and Barbara Gortau- its ability to communicate with and escort carrier, and in 1944 he head- tas (most likely Goðtautas). His direct the attacks of its U-boat “wolf ed the Norfolk-based antisubmarine father, Paul, was born on August 15, 22 LITHUANIAN HERITAGE May / June 2013 1887 in Plungë, Lithuania and im- migrated to the United States in 1912. His mother, Barbara, was born in Lithuania in 1889 and came to America in 1913. Paul and Barbara met and married in Chicago and set- tled in the city’s Roseland area, where they had six children. Paul initially worked as a laborer for a railroad in Dalton, Illinois and registered for the First World War draft in 1918, but was never called because he was mar- ried with children. He later worked as a laborer in a Chicago railroad car shop until his death on September 20, 1933 in a motor vehicle accident. With his father’s untimely death, Zenon had to quit school at the age of fourteen to help support his moth- er and younger siblings. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After completing basic and me- chanic training, Seaman Lukoðius was assigned to duty in the Atlantic. On December 31, 1943, he mustered aboard the USS Pillsbury, an Edsall Class destroyer escort, and went to sea for the first time. While on a five- week shore leave in New York City, he married his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy Lebus, who was born on July 3, 1923 in Chicago. Like many other World War II romances, their blissful honeymoon was cut short, and Zenon was soon serving at sea again. TOP: A boarding party from the USS Pillsbury works to secure a tow line to the In May, 1944, Zenon, now Mo- newly captured U-boat. ABOVE: The U-505 on display at Chicago’s Museum of tor Machines Mechanic, First Class, Science and Industry. found himself aboard the Pillsbury cat fighters, flying from Guadalca- their haste, the procedures were not as part of Admiral Gallery’s Task nal, spotted U-505, a Type IXC fully implemented. Sailing in the im- Group 22.3, sailing from Norfolk on Submarine, commanded by Ober- mediate area of operations, the three an antisubmarine patrol in the South leutnant Harald Lange, running on American vessels arrived quickly, and Atlantic to search for U-boats near the surface, and the destroyer escorts Admiral Gallery immediately ordered the Canary Islands. Part of his duty Pillsbury, USS Chatelain, and USS boarding parties to attempt to cap- was to train on a small whaleboat to Jenks were immediately ordered to ture the vessel. As the fighter planes board an anticipated German sub- the area at full steam. As U-505 at- and ships’ gun crews raked the Ger- marine, once its crew had abandoned tempted to dive and evade, it was mans to hasten their departure, the ship, to recover its Enigma coding shaken by the fighters’ depth charg- historic American naval cry, “Away machine and codebooks before it es, which caused severe damage to its all boarders,” not heard since the War sank. engine room. The crew was ordered of 1812, was given the Pillsbury’s On June 4, 1944, two F4F Wild- to scuttle and abandon ship, but in boarding parties. May / June 2013 LITHUANIAN HERITAGE 23 While the Chatelain and Jenks valuable war prize. Atlantic many years ago took con- picked up survivors, the Pillsbury sent With the flooding stopped by Lu- siderable courage. Motor Machinist’s a nine-man boarding party, com- koðius’s quick action, the Pillsbury Mate, First Class Zenon B. Luko- manded by Lieutenant Junior Grade secured the German U-boat and tow- ðius’s Silver Star citation clearly docu- Albert L. David, in a small motor- ed it in secret to Bermuda. Due to ments his heroic action: ized whaleboat to attempt to capture the great importance to Allied intel- the sinking vessel. The boarding crew, ligence of the captured Enigma ma- The President of the United States under Lieutenant David, consisted of chine, the operation was declared top of America George W. Jacobson, Zenon B. Lu- secret and the involved fighter pilots Authorized by Act of Congress, koðius, Chester A. Mocarski, Wayne and ship crews sworn to secrecy. July 9, 1918, M. Pickels, Arthur W. Knispel, Wil- Admiral Gallery was awarded the has awarded the liam R. Riendeau, Stanley E. Wdo- Distinguished Service Medal for his Silver Star wiak, and Gordon F. Hohne. The leadership in the capture of U-505, coxswain P. N. Trusheim Cox man- and Lieutenant David won the Con- ZENON B. LUKOSIUS, MoMM 1/c aged to bring the boat alongside the gressional Medal of Honor for lead- United States Navy German submarine as the party at- ing the boarding party, the only for gallantry in action tempted to board and capture its CMH awarded to a member of the Enigma coding machine and current Atlantic Fleet during World War II. In 1954, U-505 was donated to the code books before it sank. Lukoðius and the other members of Museum of Science and Industry in The boarding party knew that the the boarding party were awarded the Chicago, where it remains to this day. standard scuttling operation includ- Silver Star, and the U.S.
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