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EDWIN P. WIGGIN

             Edwin P. Wiggin was one of those one hundred forty two midshipmen who died for our country during World War II.  Not yet graduated from Kings Point, Edwin went out to sea like so many underclass Kings Pointers do every year.  However, Edwin never came back to Kings Point to graduate.  As a deck cadet aboard the SS William C. Gorgas, Edwin died on March 11, 1943.  While en route to Liverpool, England from Mobile, Alabama via New York, the SS William C. Gorgas was hit by a torpedo amidships on the starboard side by the German submarine Langfield at 2330 on March 10, 1943 in the North Atlantic.  The explosion destroyed the engine room, killing three men on watch there, but not Edwin.  An hour later, around 0030 on March 11^th, another German submarine, the Deetz, hit the Gorgas with a torpedo.  Unfortunately for Edwin, this torpedo struck hold #1, which was loaded with TNT.  Realizing the ship was going under, the captain of the Gorgas ordered the ship to be abandoned at 2350, and the ship sank at about 0130.  Out of the forty-one merchant crew and twenty-six Naval Armed Guard, only fifty-one survivors got away on lifeboats.  These survivors were then rescued by the HMS Harvester only to be struck again by two torpedoes from another German submarine, the Eckhardt.  Although we do not whether Edwin was killed aboard the Gorgas or the Harvester, we can assume that he died with Kings Point honor.  Only twelve men survived the whole ordeal, being rescued by the French corvette Aconit and HMS Narcissus.