Howard Wright, 95, at his home in East Boothbay on November 4. Wright was in middle school during World War II when a telegram arrived alerting his family that his older brother was missing in action. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

EAST BOOTHBAY — Howard Wright was in middle school in 1944 when he answered a knock on the door and found a boy from Western Union carrying a telegram with news that would devastate his family and raise questions that linger for 80 years.

“The Secretary of War wishes to express my deep regret that your son, Private First Class Elmer G. Wright, has been reported missing in action since March sixth in Tunisia,” read the telegram from Adjutant General James Ulio.

A month later, the family was notified that their 23-year-old son had been killed in action when his ship was lost 8 miles off the coast of Tunisia. His body was never recovered.

Howard Wright flips through a binder containing documents, letters and photographs about his brother Elmer, including a copy of the telegram his family received in which they knew Elmer was missing in action. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Howard Wright, now 95, has never stopped mourning his older brother – tears still fill his eyes when he describes the arrival of that telegram and how his brother always looked after him. He has spent the last 50 years piecing together details of his brother’s service, the convoy of ships he was part of and what happened on the day he died.

The walls of his East Boothbay home office are covered with framed photos of generations of his family, including a large portrait of Elmer in uniform that dominates one wall.

Below hangs Elmer’s Military Police bedside table and the telegram sent to their parents, Clifford and Dorothy Wright. On a small coffee table sits a 4-inch document filled with documents: letters to and from Elmer, photos of him during his service, military records for Liberty Ships, and first-hand accounts of the day Wright’s ship was lost.

For decades, the only medal the family had to mark Elmer’s military service was the Purple Heart awarded after his death. This fall, with the help of Sen. Susan Collins of Maine’s office, the Army verified that Elmer Wright was entitled to five more medals.

“PFC Elmer Gay Wright gave his life for the United States during World War II, and honoring his legacy is our duty to him and to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation,” said Collins in a statement. “I am proud to have been able to help bring closure to his family by securing the records they had long sought, which confirmed the additional medals he bravely won. … Despite the immense challenges in his life, PFC Wright’s patriotism and dedication to our country never wavered, and his meritorious service will never be forgotten.”

In total, Elmer Wright recently received a Presidential Unit Citation, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a Bronze Service Star, an Army Good Conduct Medal, an American Campaign Medal, and a Victory Medal of World War II that was sent to Howard. Wright in September.

Howard Wright holds the Victory Medal his brother recently received for his service during World War II. It was also announced that the family will receive four medals, including a Bronze Star. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Receiving these medals was special for Howard Wright, a tangible recognition of his brother’s sacrifice. But a mystery remains: What was the mission that put Elmer Wright on a ship bound for Iran?

He knows there’s a chance he’ll never know the answer—almost all of his brother’s service records were lost in a fire and most of the World War II veterans have since died—but he won’t give up hope .

“One of the reasons I’m doing this is that I want (my) son, his wife and our grandchildren to know my brother’s story so they don’t get lost and can appreciate the sacrifice he made,” Howard. Wright said.

A SERVICE CALL

The Wright children spent their summers in Maine, where they toured Peaks Island and visited their mother’s family in Portland. Elmer was eight years older than Howard, the youngest in the family. Elmer was always quiet and thoughtful, and “you never heard a bad word from him,” Howard Wright said.

“He made sure I was as safe as possible,” he said. “He really took care of me.”

Elmer Wright, called Pat, graduated from Colgate University in December 1942 and was drafted into the Army a month later. Howard Wright said his brother should have been on limited duty, away from combat zones, because he was hard of hearing. But the military saw value in his ability to read lips and speak three foreign languages.

A photo of Elmer Gay Wright, whom everyone called Pat, at his brother’s house in East Boothbay. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

He was assigned to a small unit of nine men who had college degrees and were very fluent in various languages, Howard Wright said. The unit was sent to Fort Custer in Michigan for special training.

Elmer Wright sent a letter on July 24, 1943, to his younger brother, who was at summer camp on Sebago Lake. He described learning “everything there is to know about criminal investigations—taking fingerprints, taking and developing photographs, taking patterns of tire tracks, footprints.” They also learned about explosives, a variety of firearms and how to use judo to break out of a hold “and how to throw your opponent off their feet,” he wrote.

“I hope you are doing very well at camp,” he wrote. “The way you’re going about your marksmanship, looks like you’re going to have to come over here and show me some pointers on shooting guns.”

A letter Howard Wright received while at summer camp in the 1940s from his brother Elmer. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Elmer Wright left Norfolk, Virginia on February 13, 1944 aboard the Daniel Chester French, a Liberty ship bound for Iran and loaded with ammunition and other war supplies. It was part of a convoy of 90 ships that ran into a storm off the coast of North Africa. Records indicate that the seas were still rough when the commodore ordered some ships to change positions on the night of March 5.

By the next morning, there was confusion as the convoy stretched for 12 miles, said Howard Wright, who was able to piece together the events of that night from military records and first-hand accounts from survivors. The two diverted Liberty ships, Daniel Chester French and Virginia Dare were about 4 miles behind.

“It was a monster storm and his ship was headed straight through our own minefield,” said Howard Wright.

Virginia Dare was the first to come across a mine and sent an emergency call at 7:15. Five minutes later, the ship Elmer Wright hit the mines. It was loaded with ammunition and soon exploded.

Those on board were ordered to abandon ship immediately. It sank in 30 minutes.

HEROIC ACTIONS

The men on board rushed to the six available lifeboats. But Howard Wright said his brother and the other 86 Navy passengers were unaware the lifeboats had open leaks in the bottom that had to be closed before being lowered into the rough seas.

As the ship sank, Elmer Wright swam to a lifeboat alongside Lt. James Boyle, who survived and later wrote to the family about what happened. The men were pulled into the lifeboat and grabbed the same oar, working together to row as the seas were too strong for one man. The boat was filling with water and Elmer Wright told Boyle he would help him save it using the helmet.

A few minutes later, the boat was picked up by a large wave and overturned. Boyle never saw Elmer Wright again.

“He was scared like the rest of us, but not once did he show the slightest sign of fear. When many were praying aloud and paralyzed with fear, he kept his head and tried to do what he could,” Boyle wrote. “In the short time I knew him, he was always a gentleman, and on the boat he acted like a man.”

Elmer Wright was among the 37 men on the ship who died that day.

Howard Wright flips through his mother’s phonebook that she used to contact people to ask about his brother’s death in World War II. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Soon the telegram arrived at the Wright home in Pennsylvania, followed by a letter from Brigadier General Robert H. Dunlop stating that he was missing in action but giving no details of what had happened.

On May 9, 1944, Dunlop wrote another letter to the Wright family, this time informing them that Elmer Wright had died on March 6 while a passenger “on a United States ship which was sunk by enemy action in the Mediterranean . The sea near Bizerte, Tunisia.”

“I know the pain this message will bring, and I hope that in time the knowledge of his heroic service to his country, even unto death, may help to sustain you,” Dunlop wrote.

Three years later, Dorothy Wright wrote a letter to Army officials, the never-ending pain of a Gold Star mother evident in every line. She relayed to Boyle the details of the terrifying minutes after their ship ran into trouble and her fear that her son, “who had a nervous heart and was quite hard of hearing”, could not hear the warnings that the boat was about to go over .

A photo of Elmer Gay Wright, far right, with his parents Clifford R. Wright, Sr. and Dorothy Gay Wright, sit in the living room of Howard Wright’s East Boothbay home. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

“He was a good swimmer or he wouldn’t have been able to get the boat through the waves in the first place. “Perhaps his heart, which was beating rapidly through nervousness and exertion, collapsed under the strain of swimming and working in the boat,” she wrote. “I just hope he wasn’t temporarily stunned and recovered miles away from any help. Maybe he latched onto something, like Lt. Boyle, but no one saw him fall and his body was among those left floating like logs.

It wasn’t until years later that Howard Wright learned the truth: Frenchman Daniel Chester was downed by friendly fire, not enemy fire.

He said he was glad his mother never knew because it would have been so upsetting. But he would still like to know what his brother’s unit was doing on that ship. Relatives of the other men in the unit told him it was a “hush” mission that involved frequent contact with both Allied and Axis spies.

Eighty years after losing his brother, Howard Wright wonders what he would think of his 50-year search for answers.

“I would hope he would think I’m trying to make sense of a senseless loss. It’s one thing to be killed in action by the enemy, but to be killed in action by your own, that’s a big pill to swallow,” he said, pausing as his voice choked with pain. “He gave his life.”

A portrait of Elmer Gay Wright hangs in his 95-year-old brother’s East Boothbay office. The family knew little about what happened to the young Army soldier, who was awarded a Purple Heart in 1944. Wright, now 95, has spent the past 50 years trying to find answers. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

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