| Notes |
- USNR WORLD WAR II
Seaman 2nd Class Elmo J. Hyatt MIA/KIA
Hometown: Ohio
Official Date of death: 29-Aug-43
Service # 6144344
Awards: Navy-Marine Corps Medal, Purple Heart
Master Clarence Edward McCoy MIA/KIA
Mission: Transport
Ship: Steam merchant Topa Topa
Loss Date: 29-Aug-42
Cargo: 6500 tons of general cargo,
Location: 10.16N, 51.30W - Grid EO 3323 350 miles north of French Guiana
Fate: Sunk by U-66 (Friedrich Markworth)
Complement: 60 (25 dead and 35 survivors).
Notes on event
At 02.37 hours on 29 Aug, 1942, the unescorted Topa Topa was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-66 about 350 miles north of Cayenne, French Guiana. The vessel had been spotted at 17.23 hours the day before and her zigzag course at 12 knots prevented a first attack, but due to a rain squall they stopped zigzagging. The first torpedo struck at the #2 hatch and blew off the side of the bridge, while the second hit the #5 hatch. The cargo of gasoline drums caught fire, forcing the eight officers, 34 crewmen, 15 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in, four .50cal and two .30cal guns) and three Canadian passengers to abandon ship in three lifeboats. The burning ship sank at 04.02 hours. The master, two officers, 15 crewmen and seven armed guards were lost. The chief officer was taken aboard by the U-boat, questioned and then returned to the lifeboat. The survivors were picked up the next day by the British steam merchant Clan Macinnes and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad on 9 September.
[1]
- Flemingsburg Man Is Reported By Navy As Missing In Action
Flemingsburg, Ky., Oct. 7 (Special) – Robert Hyatt, farmer, who lives near Flemingsburg, received word today from his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Elmo Jewell Hyatt, that she had received a telegram from the Navy Department in Washington, saying her husband, Elmo Jewell Hyatt, seaman second class, was missing following action “in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country.” The message asked that Mrs. Hyatt not divulge the name of her husband’s ship nor his station.
Seaman Hyatt, who was 34 years of age, enlisted in the Navy about six months ago, his father said. Mrs. Hyatt had been in Mansfield, Ohio, for several months. Besides his father and wife, Seaman Hyatt has two sisters, Mrs. Lovely Ruh, Cincinnati, Mrs. Dorothy Pauline Rolph, Mobile, Ala., and two brothers, Otto Hyatt, at home, and Brooks Hyatt, of Fleming county.
The Lexington Herald, Lexington, Kentucky. Thursday, 8 October 1942, page 1.
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Abt 1908 - 1942 (34 years)
[1] 
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