ALBERT B. LANG LOSES LIFE ON CONVOY SHIP HMT ROHNA

Middleboro Gazette, August 10, 2017

REMEMBER THE FALLEN

.....................Albert B. Lang, Fourth WW2 Middleboro Casualty
.....................By Bob Lessard
.....................Historian Post 64 American Legion

.....(Periodically, the Gazette will publish biographical sketches of Middleboro’s war casualties. This is intended to remember the sacrifices of all veterans and those who gave their lives to our country. ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL.)

......The parents of Private First Class Albert Bernard Lang, 20, received a government message on December 28, 1943 that their son was “missing in action.” The family had last received a letter from Albert posted November 13, 1943. He did not state where he was at the time.

......A letter from Major General J. A. Ulio, Adjutant General, advised Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Lang of 47 Forest Street that he was a passenger on a troopship which “was torpedoed at night by an enemy submarine.” According to the government letter, he was being transferred from the North African area to the European area, when the ship was sunk on November 27, 1943.

......Albert was a graduate of Memorial High School class of 1941. He had enlisted in the United States Army in December 1942. His first Post was to Fort Devens in Massachusetts.

......He received preliminary military training at Miami, Florida and from there was sent to Madison, Wisconsin, where he graduated as a radio operator. He was then assigned to Smyrna, Tennessee and then to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. He was sent overseas on October 12, 1943, where he was serving as a radio operator with the Army Air Force.

......No word had been received about Albert’s status until another letter was received by the Lang family from Major General Ulio, according to a front page article in the April 14, 1943 edition of the Gazette.

......“I am communicating with you again regarding your son, Private First Class Albert B. Lang, who has been reported as missing in action.”

......The letter continued, “ A message has been received by the War Department stating that he was a passenger on an allied troop ship which was sunk as the direct result of enemy action. Despite every protection humanly possible the ship was struck at night by the enemy and sank rapidly in a heavy sea. Although every effort was made to rescue all on board, many American soldiers were listed as missing.”
..........................MILITARY SECURITY
The Gazette then reported the remainder of the Ulio letter. “It is reported that for reasons of military security neither the name of the ship nor other details may be disclosed at this time.
......The exact location of the disaster cannot be given, however, latest reports indicate that it occurred in the European theater and not in the North African area as you were previously advised.”

......“You may be assured that the War Department is mindful of the deep human feelings involved and of its serious duty to the loved ones of our fighting men, and is endeavoring in every way to account for all who were reported missing as a result of this catastrophe. I assure you that any further information received will be communicated to you immediately.”

......Major General Ulio continued with this closing remark, “I realize the burden of anxiety that has been yours since he was first reported missing in action and my heartfelt sympathy is with you during this period of uncertainty.”

......Over a month later, Albert’s mother, Mrs. Katherine Lang, revealed to the Gazette that she had received a message, dated May 18, 1944, from Brigadier General Robert Dunlop, acting for the Adjutant General in Washington.
...........................DIED IN NOVEMBER

......The message stated, “It is with regret that I am writing to confirm the recent telegram informing you of the death of your son, Private First Class Albert B. Lang, Air Corps, who was reported missing in action on 26 November 1943 in the European area.”

......“An official report has been received in the War Department which establishes the fact that he died on 27 November 1943 as a result of a sinking of a troop transport at sea to enemy action.”

......The message concluded with these words, “I know the sorrow this message has brought you and it is my hope that in time the knowledge of his heroic service to his country even unto death may be of sustaining comfort to you.”

......In addition to the government report of Albert’s death, the Gazette story also mentioned, according to the government, “he lost his life when an Allied troopship was torpedoed at night by an enemy submarine.”

......A solemn Requiem Mass was sung in Albert’s memory at Sacred Heart church with the Reverend Peter L. Bartula, celebrant. Besides his parents, he was survived by two sisters, Mrs. Ralph (Mildred) Schwartz, 27, of West Bridgewater and Betty, 16, of Middleboro, and a brother Charles, Jr., 23.
..............................BOGUS STORY

......As this writer researched the reported sinking of a ship on 26 November 1943, which Albert Lang could have been sailing upon……nothing appeared online on the government listing of ship disasters in November 1943??

......Further research discovered, what Major General Ulio had initially reported to the Lang family about “military security.” The United States Government and its military had created a cover-up bogus story about the circumstances concerning how a ship was sunk.

......It has been discovered in later years that it wasn’t a submarine at night which “torpedoed” a ship. But, it was a German war plane in broad daylight, which sank the troopship by firing a new radio guided remote controlled glider bomb!! The government didn’t want the Germans to know how successful the new weapon had been. Thus, the submarine/torpedo story.

......The ship in question the HMT Rohna was carrying the troops. When it sank, Middleboro’s Albert Lang was one of 1,015 American soldiers to die. It has been reported that this incident was the single greatest loss of American life during World War Two.

......There is an active association of survivors of the Rohna disaster. The group placed a monument on Memorial Day 1996 to remember the 1,015 men who perished during the disaster. The monument stands at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Seales, Alabama. The group may be contacted at .. rohnasurvivors,org.

......Albert B. Lang is remembered here in Middleboro by his name engraved in the WW2 section on the Central Cemetery stone in the Veterans Memorial Park. Also, the bridge over Route 495 Harding Street at Route 44 is dedicated to his memory.