Skip to content

Floyd Willard Jerkins

Corporal Floyd W. Jerkins 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.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 302333

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

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

November 7, 1922
at Miami, FL

Parents

Henry Willard Jerkins
Pearl Evangeline (Clifton) Jerkins

Education

Hillsborough High School

Occupation & Employer

Professional Marine

Service Life

Entered Service

November 26, 1940
at Savannah, GA

Home Of Record

1215 East Curtis Street
Tampa, FL

Next Of Kin

Wife, Mrs. Jane Pearson Jerkins
(of Washington, DC)

Military Specialty

Campaigns Served

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

After spending about eighteen months on the staff of Marine Corps Base Quantico – mostly working in maintenance, with stints as a painter and an armorer – Corporal Floyd Jerkins was 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.

A survivor’s account of the sinking recounted in the Pittsburgh Press told of “a Marine corporal” addressing the men aboard: “Remember, you guys, you’re Marines. If we go down, we go down like Marines.” There were only two corporals in the detachment – Jerkins and Gerald Ainsley – and it seems likely that such a sentiment would have come from the more experienced Corporal Jerkins.

Burial Information or Disposition

Body lost at sea. Jerkins was officially declared dead on 8 February 1944.

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.

Next Of Kin Address

Wartime address of wife, Mrs. Jane Jerkins.

Location Of Loss

The Mallory was torpedoed while en route from Halifax to Reykjavik.

Related Profiles

Marines lost in the sinking of USS Henry R. Mallory
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *