Lieutenant, US Navy. Entered the service from Pennsylvania; home of record: Lewiston, Mifflin County. Lieut. Childs was serving as an observer aboard the British submarine HMS H-5 when it was mistaken for a German U-boat and rammed and sunk by the British merchant ship Rutherglen with a loss of all hands. Some sources indicate Lieut. Childs was the first U.S. naval casualty of WWI; this is incorrect as two officers and 64 enlisted men were lost in the sinking of the destroyer USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) by the German submarine U-53 on December 6, 1917. In all likelihood Lt. Childs was the first American _submariner_ lost in WWI.∼
Rank/Rate Lieutenant
Service Number *
Birth Date August 1, 1893
From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Decorations Navy Cross
Assignment On board British submarine HMS H5 as an observer
Loss Date March 2, 1918
Location Irish Sea
Circumstances Sank after being rammed by SS Rutherglen
Earl W. F. Childs
World War I
Unit HMS H-5
Rank Lieutenant U.S. Navy
Entered Service From Pennsylvania
Date of Death March 7 1918
Status Missing In Action
Memorialized
Tablets of the Missing
Rank/Rate Lieutenant
Service Number *
Birth Date August 1, 1893
From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Decorations Navy Cross
Assignment On board British submarine HMS H5 as an observer
Loss Date March 2, 1918
Location Irish Sea
Circumstances Sank after being rammed by SS Rutherglen
Earl W. F. Childs
World War I
Unit HMS H-5
Rank Lieutenant U.S. Navy
Entered Service From Pennsylvania
Date of Death March 7 1918
Status Missing In Action
Memorialized
Tablets of the Missing
Lieutenant, US Navy. Entered the service from Pennsylvania; home of record: Lewiston, Mifflin County. Lieut. Childs was serving as an observer aboard the British submarine HMS H-5 when it was mistaken for a German U-boat and rammed and sunk by the British merchant ship Rutherglen with a loss of all hands. Some sources indicate Lieut. Childs was the first U.S. naval casualty of WWI; this is incorrect as two officers and 64 enlisted men were lost in the sinking of the destroyer USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) by the German submarine U-53 on December 6, 1917. In all likelihood Lt. Childs was the first American _submariner_ lost in WWI.∼
Rank/Rate Lieutenant
Service Number *
Birth Date August 1, 1893
From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Decorations Navy Cross
Assignment On board British submarine HMS H5 as an observer
Loss Date March 2, 1918
Location Irish Sea
Circumstances Sank after being rammed by SS Rutherglen
Earl W. F. Childs
World War I
Unit HMS H-5
Rank Lieutenant U.S. Navy
Entered Service From Pennsylvania
Date of Death March 7 1918
Status Missing In Action
Memorialized
Tablets of the Missing
Rank/Rate Lieutenant
Service Number *
Birth Date August 1, 1893
From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Decorations Navy Cross
Assignment On board British submarine HMS H5 as an observer
Loss Date March 2, 1918
Location Irish Sea
Circumstances Sank after being rammed by SS Rutherglen
Earl W. F. Childs
World War I
Unit HMS H-5
Rank Lieutenant U.S. Navy
Entered Service From Pennsylvania
Date of Death March 7 1918
Status Missing In Action
Memorialized
Tablets of the Missing
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Siblings
Children
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