Mercure Lost In Navy Crash
Sioux City Sailor One of 13 Missing After Collision in Bay
Leonard Joseph Mercure, 28, machinist’s mate first class in the navy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Edward Mercure, Sr., 606 S. Alice Street, was one of 13 navy enlisted men lost Wednesday night when a seaplane salvage derrick sank after a collision with the tanker McClelland Creek in Chesapeake Bay, according to an announcement Thursday night by the coast guard at Norfolk, Va.
Mr. Mercure received a telegram here at about 4 p.m. Thursday which stated that his son was missing after the collision.
No bodies had been recovered Thursday night despite an extensive search by coast guard air-sea rescue units, the announcement stated.
Machinist’s Mate Mercure was graduated from East High School and recently began his eighth year in the Navy.
Besides his parents, two brothers, Albert Edward, Jr. and Edward Louis, reside in Sioux City.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, November 30, 1945
Body of Navy Man is Found
Rites for L. Mercure, Drowned in November, Will Be Held Here
The body of Leonard Joseph Mercure, 28, machinist’s mate first class, who was one of 13 navy enlisted men lost November 28, when a seaplane salvage derrick sank, after a collision with a tanker in Chesapeake bay, will arrive here this week.
The family received word Monday from the United States naval hospital in Norfolk, Va., that the body had been recovered.
Mercure was graduated from East High School in 1936. He had been in the service about eight years and served during the latter part of the war on the U.S.S. Wranks in the Pacific.
He was born March 22, 1917, in Sioux City. Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Mercure, 606 Alice Street: and two brothers, Edward Louis and Albert E. Jr.
The body is being sent to the Perasso Bros. Funeral Home.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, February 25, 1946
