|
Welcome to the ROHNA Website. . .
Sign
GuestBook | View
GuestBook
What
is the Rohna website all about? First a little background.
On November 26, 1943,
during WWII, one thousand, one hundred and thirty eight men perished when a
British troopship, the HMT Rohna, was attacked from the air and destroyed
in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria. Two important but
virtually unknown historical events occurred at that time.
It was the first
successful "hit" of a merchant vessel at-sea carrying US troops
by a German remote-controlled, rocket-boosted bomb, thus giving birth to
the "Missile Age", and it resulted in the greatest loss of troops
(1015) at sea in U.S.
history. Combined with the loss of ship's crew and officers, and three Red
Cross workers, more lives were lost than on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
The "hit" was
so devastating that the U.S. Government placed a veil of secrecy upon it.
The events which followed were so shameful that the secrecy continued for
decades until recently, when documents were grudgingly released under
pressure of the Freedom of Information Act. The government still does not
acknowledge this tragedy, thus most families of the casualties still do not
know the fate of their loved ones.
In 1995, over fifty
years later, a group of survivors, next-of-kin and rescuers, informally
came together for the sole purpose of enabling the creation and dedication
of a Rohna Memorial.
On Memorial Day, 1996,
a monument was dedicated to the memory of the 1015 men who lost their lives
in this incident, at Fort Mitchell National
Cemetery in Seales, Alabama.
Four years later, The
Rohna Survivors Memorial Association was more formally organized. Many of
those involved in the earlier Memorial Dedication project worked diligently
toward the formation of this new organization.
In 1999, articles and
by-laws were drawn up and the association defined its goals, which are:
- To continue in the search
for survivors as-yet-undiscovered and the families of those who
perished, so as to provide them with information they never had about
the fate of their loved ones,
- To bring the Rohna story
before the public, to honor the men who lost their lives in this
incident and those on the rescue vessels who acted selflessly in their
rescue efforts,
- And to further, by reunions
and other communications, the closeness among the membership.
This
web-site has been established for, and is dedicated to these goals.
The Articles and
By-laws also provide for membership automatically to be afforded to Rohna
survivors, next of kin of casualties and survivors, members of the Pioneer
crew, all personnel assigned to ships in Convoy KMF-26 including the HMT
Rajula. In one voice, the writers of the Articles and By-laws also agreed
that, although there may be occasional non-mandatory requests for donations
in order to meet expenses, there would be no dues assessed as part of
membership.
The directors held
their first official meeting of The Rohna Survivors Memorial Association at
a reunion in Dayton, Ohio on May 1, 1999. At that time,
several actions were taken.
The Rohna Survivors
Memorial Association web-site was declared the sole sanctioned and official
web-site of the organization.
In order to protect the
organization name and avoid public confusion, the directors also acted to
provide that no other individuals, groups or organizations may use the The
Rohna Survivors Memorial Association name in connection with newsletters,
gift items, media, web-sites, or in any other means, etc., without prior
expressed approval and sanction of the directors. To date, no requests have
been made and none granted.
John Fievet and Ruth
Canney were unanimously elected as Directors Emeritus.
|
DIRECTORS
President: Michael Walsh
Executive Vice President: Deborah Sanchez
Executive Secretary/Treasurer: Janet Delude
Executive Director: Gus Gikas
Director: Jim Clonts
Director: Carl Schoenacker
Director: Deborah Sanchez
Directors Emeritus
Robert M. Brewer; John Fievet;Ruth Canney
|
Inquiries and suggestions may be
made to:
Janet Delude
42924 Deep Forest Dr.
Coarsegold Ca. 93614
Rohna1943@aol.com
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Rohna Survivors
Memorial Association, all rights reserved.
|
