Herbert Hoskinson Lippencott

The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for RainDayBoys.com.

Birth: 21 September 1888 Greene County, Pennsylvania

Parents: Elisha Lippencott and Rachel Margaret Zook

Residence at time of enlistment: 667 Easter Avenue, Akron, Summit County, Ohio

Physical description: Medium height, medium build, blue eyes, brown hair

Death: Killed in action at sea 30 September 1918 in the sinking of the USS Ticonderoga

Age at death: 30 years old

Last resting place: Buried at sea, lost with ship.

Memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Suresnes American Cemetery, Paris, France.

Memorialized beside his parents in Smith Cemetery, Morgan Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.

Military rank: Serial No. 4124219. Private.

Company G, 3rd Provisional Regiment, 156th Depot Brigade
26 July 1918 to 2 Aug 1918

Battery B, 13th Battalion, 5th Regiment Field Artillery Replacement Draft Company, Camp Jackson, SC
3 Aug 1918 to 8 Sept 1918

4th Battery, Field Artillery, September Automatic Replacement Draft, Camp Jackson, SC
9 Sept 1918 to 30 Sept 1918

Additional information:

Hebert Hoskinson Lippencott left Greene County, Pennsylvania, as a young man to go to work as a clerk for the Firestone Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. Here he met Carrie Wagner, whom he married 1 September 1917 in Summit County, Ohio.

After military training at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, Herbert traveled with his unit to Newport News, Virginia, in early September 1918, to board the USS Ticonderoga and head to the front in Europe. The men never reached their destination. The following account of the ship's last days is detailed in the US Government's public domain project, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and tells us the following account:

"Ticonderoga loaded another Army cargo at Norfolk between 5 and 19 September. She then steamed to New York where she joined a convoy bound for Europe. On 22 September, Ticonderoga cleared New York for the last time. During the night of the 29th and 30th, the transport developed engine trouble and dropped behind the convoy. At 0520 the following morning, she sighted the German submarine U-152 running on the surface; and she cleared for action. For the next two hours, her gun crews fought the enemy in a losing battle. The U-boat's gunners put her forward gun out of commission after six shots, but the 6-inch gun aft continued the uneven battle. Almost every man on board Ticonderoga-including her captain-suffered wounds. Eventually, the submarine's two 5.9-inch guns succeeded in silencing Ticonderoga's remaining gun. At 0745, Ticonderoga slipped beneath the sea. Of the 237 sailors and soldiers embarked, only 24 survived. Twenty-two of those survivors were in one life boat and were picked up by the British steamer SS Moorish Prince four days later. The other two, the executive officer and the first assistant engineer, were taken prisoner on board the U-boat and eventually landed at Kiel, Germany, when U-152 completed her cruise. Ticonderoga's name was subsequently struck from the Navy list."

Herbert's family were left to mourn him without the option for funeral or burial. He is memorialized, however, both at home with a cenotaph marker beside his parents graves, and in France, where he was bound, at the Suresnes American Cemetery, just outside Paris.

SOURCES:

  • "Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7895 : accessed 17 June 2018), Herbert H. Lippencott entry, page 10201; citing The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War, 1917-18 (Columbus, Ohio: The F. J. Heer Printing Co., 1926).
  • Smith Cemetery (Morgan Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania), Herbert H. Lippencott tombstone (cenotaph); read and photographed by Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman, 2018.
  • Suresnes American Cemetery (Suresnes, Île-de-France, France), Herbert G. Lippincott inscription, Tablets of the Missing; personally read and photographed by Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman, 2018.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 17 June 2018), Herbert H. Lippencott entry, line 60, page 4 (written in red ink), Ticonderoga, box 597; citing Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Textual records. 255 Boxes. NAI: 6234477. Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985. Record Group Number 92. National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
  • "United States, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6482 : accessed 17 June 2018), Herbert Hoskinson Lippencott draft card, serial no. 2660, Local Draft Board, Akron, Ohio; citing National Archives microfilm publication M1509, FHL roll 1819508.
  • US Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html : viewed 17 June 2018), Ticonderoga III (Id. No. 1958).
  • US Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command: Photography (https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography.html : viewed 6 October 2018), Catalog # NH 42415, S.S. Ticonderoga.