Eugene F. Pawlik

Private, U.S. Army Air Forces
36723968
853rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation

Entered service from: Illinois
Died: November 27, 1943
Mediterranean Sea

Missing in Action
Tablets of the Missing
North Africa American Cemetery
Carthage, Tunisia

Awards: Purple Heart

Private Eugene F. Pawlik was from Chicago, Illinois, one of seven children born to Polish immigrant parents. Drafted early in the war, he was assigned to the 853rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation, which had been organized at Dyersburg Army Air Base at Dyersburg, Tennessee, on January 1, 1943. After training in the art of constructing airstrips, the 853rd went overseas on October 3, 1943, arriving in North Africa on October 23. The Battalion was stationed in Oran, Algeria, while awaiting transport to their final destination in India, via the Suez Canal.

On November 26, 1943, Private Pawlik and his unit, along with several other American Army and Army Air Force units, were in transit aboard the British ship HMT Rohna as part of a convoy. The convoy was attacked by German aircraft, and the Rohna was hit by a radio-controlled guided missile. The Rohna sank, taking 1,015 Americans with it, including Private Pawlik. His body was not recovered, and he is memorialized at the North Africa American Cemetery at Carthage, Tunisia.

Details of this incident were withheld from the public at the time, with good reason, as there was a war going on. Sadly, the government did not disclose the truth about what happened to those aboard the Rohna for decades after the war. Most of the parents of those lost aboard the Rohna never knew what became of their sons, and only in recent years have survivors organized and reached out to spread the word to other surviving families. For information, visit the Rohna Survivors Memorial Association.