This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Rogardner, Brown Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Th.2ADI/2177 Message Board Post: Mrs. E.A. Rogardner of Angola and Steuben County had a brother Fred L. Brown of Fort Wayne that was in the Us Navy World War II. He survived the singing of his ship only to die in a prison camp. He was the sole survivor of his ship, the USS Asheville. His last letter was to his sister, Mrs. E. A. Rogardner. Fred L. Brown of Fort Wayne, Indiana and the United States Navy served on the USS Asheville (PG-21) in the South Pacific during World War II. We are searching for his family. His father was Owen W. Brown of 2323 Glenwood Street; in Fort Wayne. Fireman Second Class Brown was a fireman second class on the Asheville which was sunk by the Japanese March 3, 1942, south of Java trying to make her way through the West Indies to safety in Australia. The Asheville was in a 30 minute battle before slipping beneath the waves. Brown was the lone survivor of the crew of 160. He was pulled aboard one of two destroyers, Arashi or the Nowake. After the ship had sunk, one or two of the destroyers came by the survivors in the water and at first called out “if there were any officers in the water”, receiving no reply, one ship threw over a line. Fireman Fred Brown from Ft. Wayne, Indiana grabbed the line and was taken onboard the destroyer. This was presumably to identify the ship they had sunk. Brown was taken to the Japanese prison camp at Makassar, Celebes. CAMP 575 - Java POW Camps D.X.Y. (Batavia) Java 6-107 There he suffered untold hardships, until he died 3 years later from Pellagra, Heart trouble and dysentery. He was returned to the U.S. in 1947 for final burial in his hometown of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. No other members of the crew were rescued and all were machine gunned and left in the shark infested water to drown. His last letter was to his sister Mrs. E.A. Rogardner of Auburn, Indiana. My name is Dave Dwiggins a retired Hoosier residing in the Philippines. My wife and I are involved with a project of honoring the Indiana men of the South Pacific by sending photos of their graves or name engravings on the "Tablets of the Missing in Manila to their families in America. We cannot send photos of Brown's grave because he is buried in Fort Wayne but we can feature his fight for survival on our website. Indiana Soldiers & Sailors http://fizkid.tripod.com/ Indiana sailors that died on the USS Asheville (PG-21): DeForest Dye of Chicago but enlisted in Valparaiso Ralph E. McCoy of Kokomo Leland White of Princeton. Although Brown died in March of 1945, the obituary or details of his death probably were not released until late 1945 or early 1946 after hostilities had ceased. The Date of death for the other servicemen on the Asheville was November 25, 1945. Please help us find the family of this Indiana hero and perhaps a photograph and death notice to place on our website. Dave and Apple Dwiggins San Pablo City, Philippines