As part of World War II’s strategy to liberate Italy from the Nazis, the Allies sent an invasion force of 36,000 troops with naval and air support to land behind German lines at Anzio and to cut off the Germans from their supply lines. A flotilla of thirteen LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) sailed from Naples to begin the amphibious landing on January 26, 1944. Aboard LST-422 were Companies C, D, and the Headquarters Company of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion and the 68th Coast Artillery Regiment. Rough seas and gale force winds pushed LST-422 into a German minefield where an exploding mine detonated the landing craft’s flammable cargo and sent the vessel to the bottom. Hundreds aboard LST-422 were killed.
Volunteers with the non-profit Stories Behind the Stars (www.storiesbehindthestars.org) have written memorials honoring the fifty-eight PA soldiers who died in the mining and sinking of LST-422. One of LST-422’s fallen was from Berks County: PFC Edwin C. Strausser.
Edwin Charles Strausser was born May 4, 1924 at Fleetwood, PA to Charles C. R. and Edith B. Bachman Strausser. His parents were natives of Oley, PA. Strausser had four younger siblings: brothers Alfred and Carl B, and sisters Beulah E. and Doris. His father was a veteran of World War I who served in Company E of the 304th Ammunition Train. He supported the Protestant household as a carpenter for Hoffman Company. Strausser’s mother was a homemaker.
Strausser attended Fleetwood Area High School where he participated on the school’s soccer team and the athletic council. Strausser registered for the draft in Hamburg, PA on June 30, 1942. He stood 5’ 10” tall, weighed 139 pounds, and worked at the Fleetwood Metal Body Company. Strausser enlisted in the Army at Allentown, PA on March 4, 1943 and reported to New Cumberland, PA for active duty on March 11, 1943.
Strausser was assigned to the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion which was activated at Camp Gordon, GA on June 10, 1942. Chemical mortars were developed as incendiary shells, smoke, marker, phosphorous, and chemical weapons, including poison gas.
After intense training, the 83rd was deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations on April 29, 1943. The battalion supported a variety of units including the Rangers, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 2nd and 41st British Commandos. On July 10, 1943, the Rangers and members of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion landed on Sicily while facing heavy enemy fire on mined and wired beaches. The 83rd was able to unload their mortars in the heavy surf and were able to silence the enemy firing positions. After much heavy and intense fighting, Allied forces captured Sicily. Following this victory, the task was the liberation of Italy which began on September 9, 1943. Shaddinger suffered wounds in Italy from artillery shell fragments to his groin in September 1943 and returned to duty the following month.
LST-422 attempted to land at the Allied-held beachhead at Anzio on January 26, 1944. High waves postponed the landing and forced the LST to anchor for the night at 1:00 AM. Gale force winds and the tide caused LST-422 to drift into a submerged minefield at 5:20 AM about twelve miles offshore. A mine’s explosion tore a fifty-foot hole in the ship’s hull and detonated munitions and fuel in the LST’s hold. Vehicles that were secured on decks became dislodged and pinned soldiers. Many men were trapped by the troop compartment’s jammed door as the ship sank. Many soldiers who entered the water succumbed to hypothermia or drowned in the frigid water.
Rescue efforts by other landing craft and minesweepers were hampered by German mine explosions and an air raid, killing thirty men from Landing Craft Infantry 32. Minesweepers pulled 150 men out of the water from LST-422 and LSI-32. The captain and crew of the LST-422 finally abandoned the ship around 6:00 AM. LST-422 broke in half and sank at 2:30 PM.
Total losses were 454 Americans and twenty-nine British sailors. Fifty-three members survived and returned to duty. Thirty-seven of the recovered deceased were given a burial at sea. Fifty-four of the recovered deceased were interred in U.S. Military Cemeteries in Italy. Three-hundred and sixty-two deceased are unrecovered or unidentified.
Strausser was one of the soldiers aboard LST-422 who were killed in action on January 26, 1944. He was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, Italy. A cenotaph was placed in his honor at Friedens Church Cemetery, Oley, PA. Strausser posthumously received the Purple Heart.
Stories Behind the Stars memorials are accessible for free on the internet and via smart phone app at gravesites and cenotaphs. The non-profit organization is dedicated to honoring all 421,000 fallen Americans from World War II, including 31,000 from Pennsylvania. To volunteer or to get more information, contact Kathy Harmon at kharmon@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org.