Sign Posts and Sea Mines
by Colin Kleckner
Lyman Charles Sourwine
DOB 7/28/20
DOD 12/1/85
MM1 US Navy, WW2, Section 6, Site 1076
Lyman Sourwine, pictured here in full Naval Dress While on leave.
Lyman Charles Sourwine, born July 28th, 1920 in Burlington, Des Moines Iowa, was a Machinist's Mate Petty Officer, First Class, during the Second World War.[1] Originally a sign painter by trade, Sourwine enlisted into the Navy in September of 1942, along with his longtime friend Glenn Rossiter.[2] Sourwine was sent to Machinist’s school at the University of Minnesota, which offered classes for specialized naval training during the outbreak of the Second World War, in September of 1942. Serving from October of 1942 to January of 1946, Sourwine would suspend the majority of his service aboard the USS Ancon, seeing action in the Mediterranean along North Africa, Sicily, Anzio in Italy, and during the Normandy invasion. He would finish his service aboard the USS Upham, a fast-transport ship operating around Cuba and Florida, that did not see active combat.
[2] Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
Lyman’s first ship, the USS Ancon under the command of Lt. Commander D.H Swinson, was originally a transport ship built for the Panama Railroad Company, operating along the eastern coasts of North and Central America between Cristobal, Panama, and New York City.[1] The ship was acquired by the US Army in January of 1942, serving as a Merchant Marine Troopship for the Australian Armed Forces in the Pacific. The Merchant Marine were an adjunct group to the U.S. military, providing vital transporters of supplies during President Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Program, and providing troop transport after the declarations of war upon the United States by Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany[2]. In August of 1942, the ship traded hands and was placed under the control of US Naval Command. After a refitting, the ship was redesignated as a Naval command craft and troop transport, activating as the floating command station for large groups of ships in combat. The Ancon was dubbed a “Brain Ship”[3] by the Burlington Hawkeye, Lyman’s hometown paper, in a news article detailing Sourwine’s service in the Navy. The Ancon also served as a transport and flagship for high-ranking U.S. officers, including Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk and then Lieutenant Generals Omar Bradley and George S. Patton. As an entry from Sourwine’s personal diary on July 23rd, 1943 put it, “Admiral Kirk left ship yesterday with entire staff. We may get another general.”[4]
Generals Alexander, Patton, and Admiral Kirk [Foreground, Left to Right] Aboard the USS Ancon. [1]
“80-G-42487 General Sir Harold Alexander, British Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, U.S. Army Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, USN.” Naval History and Heritage Command. Accessed June 16, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-40000/80-G-42487.html.
[1] Naval History and Heritage Command. “Ancon II (AP-66).” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/ancon-ii.html.
[2] Malloryk. “Supplying Victory: The History of Merchant Marine in World War II: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. The National World War II Museum, February 6, 2022. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/merchant-marine-world-war-ii.
[3] “Local Sailor on 'Brains' Ship.” Burlington Hawkeye. October 1944.
[4] Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
The Ancon saw action in the Mediterranean along the North African Coast in Operation Torch, the Allied strike against German and Italian forces in North Africa, before acting as Rear Admiral Kirk’s flagship during the Allied invasion of Sicily and Anzio.[1] The Ancon’s greatest achievement during the war however was its role as the command ship for all amphibious forces at Omaha Beach during the D-Day Normandy Landings. On D-Day, the Ancon hosted radio journalist George Hicks, who gave the American public one of the few live glimpses of the war with his broadcast of the Normandy Landings. Sourwine was tasked, as a Machinist’s Mate, with the maintenance of the ships electrical and mechanical systems through all of these campaigns, keeping the Ancon in fighting shape. The Ancon was also the site of a memorable snafu while docked in England just before the Normandy Invasion. King George the Sixth, father of Britain’s current monarch Queen Elizabeth, was taking a tour of the Ancon and asked to see inside the ship’s intelligence center, which held documents pertaining to the Allied Naval Invasion of Normandy, Codenamed Operation Overlord. He was firmly rebuffed by a Junior Officer on duty. As the officer later put it in an explanation to his superiors, he turned away Britain’s monarch because, “Nobody told me he was a Bigot.”[2] “Bigot” was a term used for those personnel and military commanders allowed access to documents and information surrounding Operation Overlord, the codename given to the Normandy Invasion.
King George VI aboard the USS Ancon
United States Navy. “NH 99131 King George VI.” Naval History and Heritage Command. Accessed June 16, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-99000/NH-99131.html. [2]
[1] Naval History and Heritage Command. “Ancon II (AP-66).” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/ancon-ii.html.
[2] Elsey, George Mckee. Essay. In Unplanned Life: A Memoir, Page 52. Univ Of Missouri Press, 2015.
According to Sourwine’s Daughter, Mary Ann Rhode, the Ancon “Was considered one of the luckiest ships in the Navy because they escaped being sunk so many times.”[1] Indeed, the Ancon faced some extremely close brushes with destruction. As Sourwine’s journal records, “Two large ships had direct hits and one burst like a kernel of corn. A bomb missed one of our riggings boats by about 15 ft. and one of them is missing this morning. This was sent on a mission up the beach & never returned. Our convoy left last nite but another has come in this morning. I hope we leave today or soon as the bombs are getting too close for comfort. Several fellows have shrapnel wounds and three were shell-shocked quite severely by our five inch guns. At about 10 AM two bombers penetrated our air defense and dropped 2 bombs near the fan tail of the Philly [Philadelphia]. All the bearings on the shaft were cracked. About ten minutes on the other side of us at about 350 yds, the Savannah had a direct by a bomber on her bow. The bomb hit between the third turret and the bridge. Smoke and fire burst from the deck and two fellows were seen to fly from the ship into the water. In all about 103 fellows were killed.”[2]
[1] Helstosky, Carol. “Interview of Mary Ann Rhode on the Naval Career of Lyman Charles Sourwine.”June 1st, 2022, Colorado: Colorado, n.d.
[2] Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
Sourwine served as a Machinist, a sort of on-hand engineer/ repairman for a ship's mechanical devices, especially its engines. These men, designated aboard the Ancon in A, B, and M Divisions, where colloquially called the “Black Gang” for their dark work environment in the hold of the ship by the ships informal newspaper, the Ancon Anchor.[1] The “Black Gang” were in charge of the ship’s auxiliary engines, and according to the Anchor, “They heat the ship and attend to its ventilation, generate its electricity, refrigerate its food and distill its water. Ever since Robert Fulton proved to the world that ships could be moved by steam, bluejackets [junior enlisted men] have fought over whether the engineers of the deckhands were more important aboard ship. We won’t attempt to settle that argument!”[2] This work was dark, hot, and dangerous, requiring extreme attention to detail to the ship’s complex mechanical outlay. Conditions became even more strenuous for machinists during combat scenarios when the ship needed to be constantly running all of its systems in order to relay an amphibious landing commander’s orders. As Sourwine’s journal entry from the invasion of Salerno put it, “We went on condition 4 which has my station in the engine room machine shop. Four hours on and four hours off which after a while gets very monotonous and everyone is dead tired.”[3] Sourwine’s abilities as a sign painter were also put to use aboard ships to help with the Normandy Landings. As Rhode recounts, “Because he was a sign painter, [command] came looking for him because they needed somebody to draw maps and they’d found out that he was a sign painter. And he got locked into the Admiral’s quarters for the whole time he was doing it.”[4] As Rhode recalls, “Dad always said they needed some maps for the invasion, some last minute maps, and that’s what they came to get him for. And my brother-in-law said it was to draw maps that put where all the minefields were on the coast so they could decide exactly where they were going to land.”[5]
George Hicks’ D-Day Broadcast, Recorded and Transmitted to America from the U.S.S. Ancon.
[1] USS Ancon. “The Black Gang.” The Ancon Anchor. n.d.
[2] Ibid
[3] Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
[4] Helstosky, Carol. “Interview of Mary Ann Rhode on the Naval Career of Lyman Charles Sourwine.” June 1st, 2022, Colorado: Colorado, n.d.
[5] Ibid
Sourwine’s ship, being the flagship and information nexus for multiple amphibious operations, was usually in a safe and defensible location in order to protect both its valuable officers and communication ability. However, due to the importance of the Ancon’s commanding personnel, it was also one of the valuable targets for enemy aircraft to destroy. As Sourwine’s journal from August during the invasion of Salerno recorded, “Thursday night the planes came over twice and a terrific barrage was sent up. About 200 yds off the fantail a large landing barge loaded with oil was caught in flames and exploded. A cargo ship was partly in front of it so we couldn’t see but the flames & shells exploding were a sight. Two ships were throwing water on it to extinguish the light and fire. Finally a smoke screen was put up to cover the ships from the evening planes. Off the bow at the same time the bombers were dropping bombs and the ships & shore batterys were throwing up “flak” at a terrific rate. When the shells first leave the guns they are green and then turn brilliant red and look like millions of roman candles. In addition to shells the planes red and white flares were dropped which lit up the whole bay.”[1] Sourwine seemed unimpressed with the Italian soldiers he faced, noting that an Italian submarine had surrendered and tied up next to the Ancon during the Salerno invasion. He especially noted after the Sicily Invasion that Italian prisoners-of-war, “Were small, skinny and completely wore out. Many in Sicily were put there by germans with only 2 rounds of ammunition, a rifle and scanty food.”[2]
[1] Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
[2] Ibid
Sourwine was also, as were many sailors who made the dangerous deep-Atlantic crossing, terrified of having his ships sunk, due to the very real possibility of being attacked and sunk by a German U-boat. Submarine attack ships and the main weapon of Germany’s naval forces, U-boats were the scourge of the Atlantic Crossing, often crippling entire convoys and sinking hundreds of ships. U-boat attacks were particularly deadly against the Merchant Marine, whose ships were usually unarmed and being escorted by a convoy, more often than not carrying vital resources such as gasoline or acting as troop ships. While air cover along the American and European coasts was able to neutralize the threat of a U-boat attack, no such air-cover was available for days while ships crossed over the deepest parts of the Atlantic, relying on sonar and depth charges, colloquially known as “ash cans” to shatter the hulls of the submarine German ships, or destroying them with cannon fire as their crews surfaced for air. As Sourwine’s June 15th, 1943 journal entry recorded during his Atlantic crossing, “Three contacts were made with enemy subs and several tin cans went in search of them and dropped a few depth charges. I have been doing fine so far except for a stiff arm from the shots we received yesterday and a sore thumb caused by hot water while making coffee on watch this morn. We are in a danger zone and Nazi subs are everywhere. One may get us, who knows.”[1] Not three days later on June 16th, “Three times today subs were sounded on the radar. Ash cans were dropped and the convoy zig-zagged away under full steam. If a sub (or tub) has to stop it can’t catch up with convoy as we have been averaging around 14.5 knots per hr. During the night a ship was sighted and turned out to be a Spanish hospital ship. It was lit up like a Christmas tree with a red cross on the side. However, the destroyers took no chance and layed a smoke screen between the convoy and the ship so they couldn’t see us.”[2] Sourwine, however, made it safely across the Atlantic, crossing through the Strait of Gibraltar and back into the protective shroud of Allied air cover on June 21st. The Ancon would carry him across the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and the English Channel during the D-Day Invasions before his service aboard ended.[3]
[1] Ibid
[2] Ibid
[3] Schuddekopf, Richard F. It Never Happened, It Never Happened at All. Self-Published, n.d. Copyright 1976, Accessed June 9, 2022
Sourwine, as many enlisted personnel did, returned to civilian life soon after the end of the war, returning to his trade as a sign painter. He would marry Dorothy Decker, a young woman who he’d gone on one date before leaving for the war and had thought of him before his time on the Ancon as rather boring.[1] He would be happily married to her until his death. His eventual move to Denver, however, began with a uranium mine. As Rhode said, “He and a bunch of his friends bought some shares in a uranium mine in Moab, Utah. So they all went out to Moab to look at their mine. And he liked it so much coming out here and back that he stopped in Denver on the way back and got a job.”[2] After moving to Denver Sourwine had multiple jobs throughout the metropolitan area before eventually buying the Denver Sign Company, before moving his home out of Denver and into the nearby town of Indian Hills. Sourwine would operate the Denver business until illness in later life forced him to sell. He was President of the Sign Painter’s Union, taught in their apprentice program for years, and was so well regarded for his skill that he was chosen to paint the gold leaf onto Denver’s fire trucks, a tradition still carried on today by the Denver Fire Department.[3] Sourwine was also a volunteer accident rescue official, dealing with trauma incidents such as ski accidents and car crashes in Indian Hills. He taught and regularly played the trumpet, a skill that had given him the post of bugler during Navy bootcamp.[4] He died on the 1st of December, 1985 at the age of sixty-five. He is buried at Fort Logan along with his wife Dorothy who died in 2014.[5] He is survived by his two daughters, Mary Ann Rhode and Pat Thyfault.
[1] Helstosky, Carol. “Interview of Mary Ann Rhode on the Naval Career of Lyman Charles Sourwine.” June 1st, 2022, Colorado: Colorado, n.d.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] “Dorothy Sourwine Obituary (1934 - 2014) Denver Post.” Legacy.com. Accessed June 16, 2022. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/denverpost/name/dorothy-sourwine-obituary?id=7369846.
Footnotes ↓
[1] “Fold3. “Lyman Sourwine (1920) in Veterans Affairs Birls Death File.” Fold3. Accessed June 14, 2022. https://www.fold3.com/record/622153213/lyman-sourwine-1920-veterans-affairs-birls-death-file.
[2]Sourwine, Lyman Charles. “Journal of Lyman Charles Sourwine, October 1942 to August 1943.” Burlington: Iowa, September 1942.
[3] “Naval History and Heritage Command. “Ancon II (AP-66).” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/ancon-ii.html.
[4] “The History of Pittsburgh,” Visit Pittsburgh, accessed April 21, 2021, https://www.visitpittsburgh.com/things-to-do/arts-culture/history/.
[5] “Charles S Shadle- Retired Army General,” Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1985; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17868647/charles-s-shadle, accessed April 15, 2021.
[6] “The Pennsylvania Railroad Company,” britannica.com, accessed April 24, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pennsylvania-Railroad-Company.
[7] “US WW1 Veterans Service and Compensation files (1917-1919),” https://www.ancestrylibrary.com, accessed on accessed April 12, 2021.
[8] “The Battle of Chateau-Thierry," History on the Net, accessed May 12, 2021, https://www.historyonthenet.com/battle-of-chateau-thierry.
[9] “Charles S Shadle- Retired Army General,” Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1985; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17868647/charles-s-shadle.
[10] US WW1 Veterans Service and Compensation files (1917-1919),” https://www.ancestrylibrary.com, accessed April 12, 2021.
[11] “US Newspapers.com, Marriage Index 1800s-1999, entry for Charles and Martha Grace Shadle,” ancestry.com, accessed April 17, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/46505929:62116.
[12] “1930 United States Federal Census, entry for Charles S Shadle,” accessed April 10, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/64134848:6224.
[13] J. Kelly, “Charles R Shadle Obituary,” Baltimore Sun, October 27, 2018, accessed April 15, 2021, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2007-07-02-0707020086-story.html.
[14] “1930 United States Federal Census. Entry for Charles S Shadle “, ancestry.com, accessed April 16th, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/64134848:6224.
[15] Due to conflicting archival information, it is not exactly known if Charles remained in the Army throughout the entire inter-war period. However, it can be determined that he spent at least 10 years in the CWS following World War One, in which he and other officers prepared for the possibility of another global conflict involving chemical weapons.
[16] Brooks E. Kleber and David Birdsell, “The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat,” Washington, D.C, Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, March 15, 1966, https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-3/CMH_Pub_10-3.pdf.
[17] It is impossible to mention the Aberdeen Proving Ground without acknowledging the Edgewood Arsenal Human Experiments that were conducted there for over 30 years. The experiments consisted of testing a wide array of psychochemical compounds on military volunteers in order to assess the combat effectiveness of these non-lethal chemicals. While there is no evidence directly linking both Charles Sr. and Jr. to the experiments, it is likely that they were at least aware of the classified program given their high ranks within the Chemical Warfare Service.
[18] Brooks E. Kleber and David Birdsell, “The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat,” Washington, D.C, Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, March 15, 1966, https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-3/CMH_Pub_10-3.pdf.
[19] “Charles S Shadle- Retired Army General” Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1985, accessed April 24, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17868647/charles-s-shadle.
[20] Brooks E. Kleber and David Birdsell, “The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat,” Washington, D.C, Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, March 15, 1966, https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-3/CMH_Pub_10-3.pdf.
[21] “Operation Torch: Invasion of North Africa,” Naval History and Heritage Command, (n.d.), accessed April 15, 2021, https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/operation-torch.html.
[22] Brooks E. Kleber and David Birdsell, “The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat,” Washington, D.C, Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, March 15, 1966, https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-3/CMH_Pub_10-3.pdf.
[23] ”US Select Military Registers, 1862-1985. entry for Charles S. Shadle“, ancestry.com, accessed April 25th, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/2345/images/40014_1821100517_0658-00961?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=3e65aed231c5bbc79e5591edaacc0594&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xRr33&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=2247883.
[24] ”US City Directories, 1822-1995, entry for Charles S Shadle,” ancestry.com, accessed April 13, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/871067395:2469.
[25] “Charles S Shadle Elected Director of Hyman and Co,” Denver Post, July 25, 1954, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.du.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=charles%20S%20shadle%20chemical&docref=image/v2%3A12C7581AC4BD0728%40WHNPX-1667DABE5BF5144B%402434949-1666E802E00C1FE0%4016-1666E802E00C1FE0%40.
[26] "Charles Shadle, Ex-Eisenhower Aide, Dies”, Denver Post, March 3, 1985, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.du.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=charles%20S%20shadle&docref=image/v2%3A12C7581AC4BD0728%40WHNPX-16A128E4CFB0DB67%402446128-169F36A8D0710659%4031-169F36A8D0710659%40.
[27] Ibid.
[28] “US Newspapers.com, Obituary Index 1800s-current, entry for Charles S Shadle,” ancestry.com, accessed April 18, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/573196852:61843.
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