VETERAN OF WORLD WAR II
LT JG, USS SERPENS
GOLD STAR LIST
This ship was launched on 5 April 1943. She was transferred to the Navy on 19 April 1943, renamed USS Serpens and designated cargo ship AK-97.
The Serpens was destroyed on the 29th January 1944, she was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, in the South Paciffic. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men, were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when the Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. 198 Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion and another soldier who was ashore was killed by shrapnel. Only two of those on board, SN 1/c Kelsie K. Kemp and SN 1/c George S. Kennedy, who had been in the boatswain's locker, survived.
Those who died are buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, where there is a monument to the crew.
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George Coleman Auble was born about 1913, one of two sons of Farley and Alice Evelyn (Folsom) Auble. His parents, who were both teachers, were killed in an auto verses train accident in 1926, near Lemoore, California. In the 1930 census George and his brother, Orville Godwin Auble, were living with their grandmother, Sarah A. Auble, Farley's widowed mother.
George graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1935 with studies in Commerce and Economics. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Prior to entering the service he was employed as an accountant.
George married Eleanor Bycraft. She eventually married Earl V. Best, the Navy chaplain that told her of her husband's death. They are also buried at Arlington Cemetery.
LT JG, USS SERPENS
GOLD STAR LIST
This ship was launched on 5 April 1943. She was transferred to the Navy on 19 April 1943, renamed USS Serpens and designated cargo ship AK-97.
The Serpens was destroyed on the 29th January 1944, she was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, in the South Paciffic. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men, were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when the Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. 198 Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion and another soldier who was ashore was killed by shrapnel. Only two of those on board, SN 1/c Kelsie K. Kemp and SN 1/c George S. Kennedy, who had been in the boatswain's locker, survived.
Those who died are buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, where there is a monument to the crew.
--------------------------------------------
George Coleman Auble was born about 1913, one of two sons of Farley and Alice Evelyn (Folsom) Auble. His parents, who were both teachers, were killed in an auto verses train accident in 1926, near Lemoore, California. In the 1930 census George and his brother, Orville Godwin Auble, were living with their grandmother, Sarah A. Auble, Farley's widowed mother.
George graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1935 with studies in Commerce and Economics. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Prior to entering the service he was employed as an accountant.
George married Eleanor Bycraft. She eventually married Earl V. Best, the Navy chaplain that told her of her husband's death. They are also buried at Arlington Cemetery.
VETERAN OF WORLD WAR II
LT JG, USS SERPENS
GOLD STAR LIST
This ship was launched on 5 April 1943. She was transferred to the Navy on 19 April 1943, renamed USS Serpens and designated cargo ship AK-97.
The Serpens was destroyed on the 29th January 1944, she was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, in the South Paciffic. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men, were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when the Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. 198 Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion and another soldier who was ashore was killed by shrapnel. Only two of those on board, SN 1/c Kelsie K. Kemp and SN 1/c George S. Kennedy, who had been in the boatswain's locker, survived.
Those who died are buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, where there is a monument to the crew.
--------------------------------------------
George Coleman Auble was born about 1913, one of two sons of Farley and Alice Evelyn (Folsom) Auble. His parents, who were both teachers, were killed in an auto verses train accident in 1926, near Lemoore, California. In the 1930 census George and his brother, Orville Godwin Auble, were living with their grandmother, Sarah A. Auble, Farley's widowed mother.
George graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1935 with studies in Commerce and Economics. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Prior to entering the service he was employed as an accountant.
George married Eleanor Bycraft. She eventually married Earl V. Best, the Navy chaplain that told her of her husband's death. They are also buried at Arlington Cemetery.
LT JG, USS SERPENS
GOLD STAR LIST
This ship was launched on 5 April 1943. She was transferred to the Navy on 19 April 1943, renamed USS Serpens and designated cargo ship AK-97.
The Serpens was destroyed on the 29th January 1944, she was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, in the South Paciffic. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men, were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when the Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. 198 Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion and another soldier who was ashore was killed by shrapnel. Only two of those on board, SN 1/c Kelsie K. Kemp and SN 1/c George S. Kennedy, who had been in the boatswain's locker, survived.
Those who died are buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, where there is a monument to the crew.
--------------------------------------------
George Coleman Auble was born about 1913, one of two sons of Farley and Alice Evelyn (Folsom) Auble. His parents, who were both teachers, were killed in an auto verses train accident in 1926, near Lemoore, California. In the 1930 census George and his brother, Orville Godwin Auble, were living with their grandmother, Sarah A. Auble, Farley's widowed mother.
George graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1935 with studies in Commerce and Economics. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Prior to entering the service he was employed as an accountant.
George married Eleanor Bycraft. She eventually married Earl V. Best, the Navy chaplain that told her of her husband's death. They are also buried at Arlington Cemetery.
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LTJG, USS SERPENS WORLD WAR II
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From Berkeley, CA
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