Fellow Sailor Relates How Edward Leonard, First Class Seaman, Died When Ticonderoga Was Sunk By U-Boat, Sept. 30, 1918

From the Monroe Journal, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 1918. For more information on the sinking of the Ticonderoga, go to the Naval History and Heritage Command site online at https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-i/incidents--1918/uss-ticonderoga-sunk-by-u-152.html

Eye Witness Relates How Captain of German Sub Shot Edward L. Davis of Warrenton, N.C. in the Head

Edward Leonard, first class seaman and one of the three surviving the American ship Ticonderoga, sunk September 30, relates how Edward L. Davis of Warrenton, N.C. was shot in the head by the captain of the sub. Davis had swam alongside the sub and was pleading for the life of his comrades on the sinking Ticonderoga, which was being shelled by the sub, when shot by the Germans.

Leonard’s story, as printed in the Warrenton Record, follows:

“It was shortly after 5 o’clock on the morning of September 30 that an explosion on deck brought me out of a sound nap. I ran to the bridge and shrapnel was flying in every direction. I saw the bridge was on fire and Captain James Madison wounded. I had hardly gotten my bearings when I heard the order to get ready the life-boats.

“Everything was topsy-turvy, but I heard still another order to send the gun crews to the six-inch piece aft. It was then that I discovered the three-inch gun for’ard had been shot away by the Hun. That was Bobby’s gun. (Bobby Burns, famous light-weight champion and friend of Leonard.—Ed.)

“Going aft I saw our men dropping with the shrapnel still sweeping the deck. There lay little Bobby with a wound in his head. He had been hit on his way to his new post of duty. I ran to him. He was still conscious. I took his head in my arms and he opened his eyes. Looking straight into mine, he said:

‘Leonard, you’ve been a friend to me and I’m going to ask you one more favor. If you get away safely, which I don’t believe possible, please go to my home and tell them how I died.’

“A minute later Bobby was dead and I ran to help with the life boats. As the sub was on our starboard side, we lowered on the port side, thinking they would hit us, but as fast as we dropped a boat into the water the Germans fired upon it. We had 14 boats and most of them were crushed to pieces before our eyes. We could not fight any longer because they had shot away our other gun. We didn’t hit them one—at least I saw no marks on the sub later. Yet, I have seen our gun crews split a barrel, at practice, many a time. We were helpless then and they kept firing.

“One of our crew, a lad named Edward Davis, from Warrenton, N.C., as game a boy as ever lived, swam to the side of the U-boat, which was hardly a thousand yards away, and pleaded for the lives of the men aboard the sinking ship. When he told the Huns they were killing everyone, a German officer stepped forward and shot him through the head.

“When the ship quickened her downward pace, stern first, we lowered our boat No. 7, on the starboard side, for by that time the sub, confident she had completed the job, submerged. We were rowing as hard as we could and our ensign was encouraging us, but the sub came to the surface again. With her reappearance we concluded she would let drive at our boat.

“The ensign was a man. There on the bottom of the boat lay our captain and there were others wounded too badly to help, but the ensign instructed us how to act.

“’They’ll order us alongside,’ he said, ‘and we must go, but I want each man to be a true American. Do not answer their questions. Let them sink us if they desire. Be a real American and die for your country.’

“We promised, and when we drew alongside, as ordered later, an interpreter, who was brought upon the deck by the German commander, endeavored to pump us.

“None of the fellows answered.

“It was then that they ordered the captain to stand forward, but it was explained that he was very badly wounded and we requested some surgical dressings.

“That reply to our request came from one of the Huns who said the only thing he would give us was an 8-inch shell. Finally they took our executive officer and demanded the engineer, but our chief was killed in his room, so they took the assistant and submerged again.

“All during the conversation we were tied to the sub, our towline having been made fast to their stern. When the hatches were closed the U-boat started below with our lifeboat attached, but somehow the rope broke or was cut, for we were free at last. After four days of drifting, we were picked up and brought home.”