Eli son of George and Lucy Hawkins Coffee was born at Hulbert,Oklahoma. He was a full blood Cherokee Indian schooled at the Seneca boarding school then Haskell Indian School in Lawrence , KS. He was at Haskell when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor , December 7,1941. The school had an assembly that afternoon asking for volunteers to join the war effort. The next day big buses came to the school and Eli volunteered for the Navy. He was on the Freighter Angelina when it was sunk in rough seas in the Noth Atlantic on October 18,1942 by a torpedo fired by U-boat 618. Eli was in the water eight hours. They used rope to tie themselves together and held on to an overturned boat. He said when he saw the rescue boat coming he fainted and did not remember his actual rescue. There were 8 saved out of a crew of 42. He served on the Del Norte for the rest of his service.
He worked for the Manor and Butternut Bakeries as a baker in Kansas City, MO. He moved back to the family home in Tahlequah when he retired.
Eli was buried at Fort Gibson Cemetery, Fort Gibson, OK with full military honors on August 31,2001
He worked for the Manor and Butternut Bakeries as a baker in Kansas City, MO. He moved back to the family home in Tahlequah when he retired.
Eli was buried at Fort Gibson Cemetery, Fort Gibson, OK with full military honors on August 31,2001
Eli son of George and Lucy Hawkins Coffee was born at Hulbert,Oklahoma. He was a full blood Cherokee Indian schooled at the Seneca boarding school then Haskell Indian School in Lawrence , KS. He was at Haskell when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor , December 7,1941. The school had an assembly that afternoon asking for volunteers to join the war effort. The next day big buses came to the school and Eli volunteered for the Navy. He was on the Freighter Angelina when it was sunk in rough seas in the Noth Atlantic on October 18,1942 by a torpedo fired by U-boat 618. Eli was in the water eight hours. They used rope to tie themselves together and held on to an overturned boat. He said when he saw the rescue boat coming he fainted and did not remember his actual rescue. There were 8 saved out of a crew of 42. He served on the Del Norte for the rest of his service.
He worked for the Manor and Butternut Bakeries as a baker in Kansas City, MO. He moved back to the family home in Tahlequah when he retired.
Eli was buried at Fort Gibson Cemetery, Fort Gibson, OK with full military honors on August 31,2001
He worked for the Manor and Butternut Bakeries as a baker in Kansas City, MO. He moved back to the family home in Tahlequah when he retired.
Eli was buried at Fort Gibson Cemetery, Fort Gibson, OK with full military honors on August 31,2001
Gravesite Details
GM3C - US NAVY - WORLD WAR II
