Albert Lee Manley Jr. was one of 819 soldiers and crew members lost in the sinking of the SS Leopoldville off the coast of France on Dec. 25, 1944.
The troopship was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat 486.
Albert was born on March 27, 1924, in Crested Butte, Gunnison County, Colorado, to Albert Lee Manley Sr. and Mary Rozman Manley. His parents were married in 1923.
“The bride was beautiful in a dress of white crepe de chine with veil and wreath of orange blossoms,” The Elk Mountain Pilot reported on June 28, 1923. “The groom wore the conventional black.”
Albert’s father was a stable boss at a coal mine, and his mother was a homemaker to Albert and his four younger siblings: Rita, Walter, Mary, and Patricia. Albert was valedictorian of his 1942 high school graduation class and worked at the same coal mine as his father, Colorado Fuel & Iron Co.
Albert entered the army on June 8, 1943, and was assigned to Weapons Platoon, Company F, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. A 5-foot-11, 135-pound private first class, his service number was 37347717.
The 66th Infantry Division was activated on April 15, 1943, at Camp Blanding, Florida, and later transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas. The division was sent to Camp Rucker, Alabama, for transport to the European Theatre of Operations. The men arrived in England on Dec. 12, 1944, and trained until Dec. 24, 1944, when they were ordered to the front as replacements.
They boarded two Belgian steamships, the SS Chesire and the SS Leopoldville. Prior to the conflict, the SS Leopoldville was a Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo passenger liner. The loading of the 2,223 reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments was chaotic. The troopships were not loaded by regiment and many of the officers were not present.
The instructions for abandoning ship, use of life savers, and supervised lifeboat drills were minimal at best. The abandon ship order, when it came, was given in Flemish instead of English.
The ships sailed from Southampton, England, to Cherbourg, France, as part of the WEP-3 convoy. PFC Manley was aboard the Leopoldville when it was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1944, by the German submarine U-486. Some 763 soldiers and 56 of the Leopoldville’s crew died.
The original explosion in Cargo Hold 4 flooded E-4, F-4, and G-4 compartments. An estimated 300 men were killed by the blast and flooded holds. The English Channel was experiencing swells of 8 feet to 12 feet in height, hampering UMS Brilliant’s attempts to rescue soldiers on ship and in the water. Some 493 of the 763 casualties were never recovered from the 48-degree waters.
PFC Manley’s body was not recovered; he was 20 years old. His name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. He also has a cenotaph in Crested Butte Cemetery in Colorado. The US WWII Hospital Admission Card stated that he died in the line of duty.
Commendations:
Purple Heart