Harry Mears Hobbins, Jr.
Second Lieutenant Harry M. Hobbins, Jr., was attached to the Marine Detachment, Naval Operating Base Iceland.
He was lost in the sinking of USS Henry R. Mallory on 7 February 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number O-11487
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
Based on circumstances of loss, this individual is considered permanently non-recoverable.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
October 8, 1919
Oak Park, IL
Parents
Harry Mears Hobbins, Sr.
Ethel Ione (Redfield) Hobbins
Education
Oak Park/River Forest High School (1937)
University of Wisconsin (1941)
Occupation & Employer
Student
Service Life
Entered Service
September 12, 1941 (enlisted)
July 18, 1942 (officer)
Home Of Record
1801 16th Street NW
Washington, DC
Next Of Kin
Wife, Mrs. Becky (Mortimer) Hobbins
Military Specialty
—
Campaigns Served
—
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
Hobbins briefly served as an enlisted Marine aboard the USS Louisville before attending Officer Candidate School.
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Second Lieutenant Harry Hobbins was one of four junior Marine Corps officers assigned to the Naval Operating Base, Iceland. He boarded the USS Henry R. Mallory, an ocean liner turned transport, at New York City on 23 January 1943. Mallory carried 494 passengers and crew, plus a cargo of food, clothing, cigarettes, mail, and vehicles bound for Reykjavik. Although capable of reasonably fast speeds, she was assigned to a slow convoy (SC-118) for the dangerous North Atlantic crossing.
At 0659 on 7 February 1943, a single torpedo fired by U-402 hit the Mallory’s #3 hold where the Marines were quartered. An untold number died in the initial explosion and rapid flooding; others managed to scramble topside. Only three of the ship’s ten lifeboats cleared the ship – men jumped overboard into fifty-degree water as the Mallory settled by the stern and slipped from sight.
I woke up to the sound of people yelling and screaming and much confusion. The area was a mess. I do not remember an explosion, and I am not sure if I may have been unconscious for a short period. But I do remember looking in the direction of where I should have been sleeping and there was nothing there. I managed to get on deck and to my assigned lifeboat, but it was gone....
I went to another lifeboat station and got into that boat as it was being lowered. But when we reached the water, no one could figure out how to release it from the lines. Then someone found a hatchet and used that to cut the lines at one end. While passing it to the other end, though, the hatchet was lost over the side. The issue with the lines became moot, however, as we also discovered that the boat was filling with water, since no one had closed the seacock. As the waves lifted the boat, guys would jump out of the lifeboat and back onto the deck of the Mallory.
I was still in the lifeboat when an object landed in the water next to me; I jumped to it. I did not land on it, but did manage to grab hold of it and climb aboard. Once aboard, I realized that it was a life raft and soon it began to rain men who were jumping from the Mallory. When morning came I counted 22 people on board. I think that was more than the raft was designed to carry, since it was riding so low we were almost up to our waists in water. I slipped off the raft once and a couple of the guys pulled me back on board. I remember that two of the persons aboard appeared to be dead.
The Mallory sent no distress calls, fired no rockets, and no order was given to abandon ship. Any rationale for these decisions died with the ship’s master, Captain Horace Weaver. After several hours afloat, the survivors were rescued by Coast Guard Cutters Bibb and Ingham. German U-Boats still haunted the area; the cutters were unable to recover bodies from the sea. Only 222 men survived the sinking – less than half of those aboard.
I never saw anything like it, wood all over the place and bodies in life jackets ... never saw so many dead fellows in my whole life. Saw lots of mail bags, boxes, wood, wood splinters, empty life jackets, oars, upturned boats, empty life rafts, bodies, parts of bodies, clothes, cork, and a million other things that ships have in them. I hope I never see another drowned man as long as I live.
Burial Information or Disposition
While pulling survivors to safety, Coast Guard personnel did their best to identify the many bodies they found in the wreckage. One of the dead men was Lieutenant Harry Hobbins. He had been injured in the sinking and died aboard a raft during the night.
Although Hobbins’ death was confirmed, his body could not be brought aboard for burial and was lost to the Atlantic.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of wife, Mrs. Becky Mortimer Hobbins.
Location Of Loss
The Mallory was torpedoed while en route from Halifax to Reykjavik.
