S. Sgt. Gilbert Stueble Killed Aboard Torpedoed Troopship

S. Sgt. Gilbert J. Stueble, son of H. Joseph and Minnie Stueble of 327 Union Avenue, Belleville, N.J., was aboard the Belgian troopship Leopoldville when it was sunk by a German submarine killing 802 men of the 2,235 aboard on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1944.

Born on Feb. 6, 1918, Stueble enlisted on April 13, 1943, in Newark, N.J. His record shows he was married at the time.

Stueble served in the 264th Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. He received the Purple Heart. Malcolm Christopher of neighboring Nutley served in the same regiment and perished on the Leopoldville.

According to the 66th Division website:

The 66th Infantry Division was activated April 15, 1943 at Camp Blanding, FL. The 66th Division was part of the Sixth Army Group and participated in the Northern France campaign.

The 66th Infantry Division has not been without tragedy. On Christmas Eve 1944, one of their troopships the SS Leopoldville, a Belgium passenger ship converted into a transport, was crossing the English Channel and was hit and sunk by a German U-Boat. They were on our way to replace the troops at the Battle of the Bulge. That night they lost 14 officers, including two battalion commanders, and 784 enlisted men.

Two days later they were assigned to fight 60,000 Nazis in the pockets along the French Atlantic coast, the Black Panther Division, the 66th Division entered combat with grim determination - to avenge those who died in the English Channel.

SS Léopoldville was an 11,500-long-ton passenger liner of the Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo. She was converted for use as a troopship in the Second World War, and while sailing between Southampton and Cherbourg, was torpedoed and sunk by the U-486. As a result, approximately 763 soldiers died, together with 56 of her crew.

Prior to the attack, the Léopoldville had made 24 cross-Channel crossings, transporting more than 120,000 troops. She sailed as part of convoy WEP-3, a cross-channel convoy from Southampton to Cherbourg. The Léopoldville was in a diamond formation with four escorts; the destroyers HMS Brilliant and HMS Anthony, the frigate HMS Hotham, and the French frigate Croix de Lorraine, and another troopship the SS Cheshire.

On the day of the attack, the Léopoldville was carrying reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments, 66th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army towards the Battle of the Bulge. While in the English Channel on 24 December 1944, approximately five miles from the coast of Cherbourg, the convoy was attacked by U-486 and at 17.54 hours the Léopoldville was hit by one of two torpedoes fired from the U-boat. She finally sank by the stern at 20.40 hours.

Of the 2,235 American servicemen on board, approximately 515 are presumed to have gone down with the ship. Another 248 died from injuries, drowning, or hypothermia. Captain Charles Limbor, one Belgian and three Congolese crewmembers also went down with the ship. An unknown number of British soldiers died. Documents about the attack remained classified until 1996.

Stueble was survived by his parents who operated a deli on Union Avenue and Joralemon Street, and a sister, Doris.

A military headstone was requested by the family and placed in Fairmont Cemetery in Newark.

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941. Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. ARC ID: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C.

Applications for Headstones, compiled 01/01/1925 - 06/30/1970, documenting the period ca. 1776 - 1970 ARC: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Leopoldville: a Tragedy Too Long Secret, By Allan Andrade

Leopoldville, 66th Division

Leopoldville Troopship Disaster

Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Malcolm Christopher

Wikipedia contributors. "SS Léopoldville (1929)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Dec. 2018. Web. 30 Apr. 2019.

Links subject to change