Howard Wright, 95, at his home in East Boothbay on Nov. 4. Wright was in middle school during World War II when a telegram arrived alerting his family that his older brother was missing in action. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

EAST BOOTHBAY — Howard Wright was in middle school in 1944 when he answered a knock on the door and found a Western Union boy carrying a telegram with news that would devastate his family and prompt questions that have lingered for 80 years.

“The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your son Private First Class Elmer G. Wright has been reported missing in action since six March in Tunisia,” the telegram from Adjutant General James Ulio read.

A month later, the family was notified that their 23-year-old son had been killed in action when his ship was lost 8 miles off the coast of Tunisia. His body was never recovered.

Howard Wright flips through a binder that contains paperwork, letters and photos about his brother, Elmer, including a copy of the telegram his family received carrying the news that Elmer was missing in action. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Howard Wright, now 95, has never stopped mourning his older brother – his eyes still fill with tears when he describes the arrival of that telegram and the gentle way his brother had always watched out for him. He has spent the last 50 years piecing together details about his brother’s service, the convoy of ships he was a part of and what happened the day he died.

The walls of his home office in East Boothbay are covered with framed photos of generations of his family, including a large portrait of Elmer in uniform that dominates one wall.

Below it hangs Elmer’s Military Police nightstick and the telegram sent to their parents, Clifford and Dorothy Wright. On a small coffee table sits a 4-inch binder full of documents: letters to and from Elmer, photos of him during his service, military records for Liberty Ships and first-hand accounts of the day Wright’s ship was lost.

For decades, the only medal the family had marking Elmer’s military service was the Purple Heart awarded after his death. This fall, with help from Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins’ office, the Army verified that Elmer Wright was entitled to another five medals.

“PFC Elmer Gay Wright gave his life for the United States during World War II, and honoring his legacy is our duty to him and to all who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation,” Collins said in a statement. “I am proud that we could help bring a measure of closure to his family by securing the records they had long sought, which confirmed the additional medals he courageously earned. … Despite immense challenges in his life, PFC Wright’s patriotism and dedication to our country never wavered, and his meritorious service will not be forgotten.”

In all, Elmer Wright was newly awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one Bronze Service Star, an Army Good Conduct Medal, an American Campaign Medal and a World War II Victory Medal that was sent to Howard Wright in September.

Howard Wright holds the Victory Medal his brother recently received for his service during World War II. He was also notified that the family will receive four medals, including a Bronze Star. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Receiving those medals has been special for Howard Wright, a tangible acknowledgment of the sacrifice his brother made. But one mystery remains: What was the mission that put Elmer Wright on a ship bound for Iran?

He knows there’s a possibility he’ll never know the answer – nearly all of his brother’s service records were lost in a fire, and most WWII veterans have since died – but he won’t let himself give up hope.

“One of the reasons that drives me to do this is that I want (my) son, his wife and our grandchildren to know the story of my brother so it doesn’t get lost and they can appreciate the sacrifice he made,” Howard Wright said.

A CALL TO SERVICE

The Wright children spent their summers in Maine, where they roamed Peaks Island and visited with their mother’s family in Portland. Elmer was eight years older than Howard, the youngest in the family. Elmer was always quiet and considerate, and “you never heard a foul word from him,” Howard Wright said.

“He made sure that I was as safe as I could be,” he said. “He really watched out for me.”

Elmer Wright, who went by Pat, graduated from Colgate University in December 1942 and a month later was inducted into the Army. Howard Wright said his brother was supposed to be in limited service, away from combat zones, because he was hard of hearing. But the Army saw value in his ability to read lips and speak three foreign languages.

A photo of Elmer Gay Wright, who everyone called Pat, at his brother’s home in East Boothbay. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

He was assigned to a small unit of nine men who were all college-educated and highly fluent in various languages, Howard Wright said. The unit was sent to Fort Custer in Michigan for special training.

Elmer Wright sent a letter on July 24, 1943, to his younger brother who was at summer camp on Sebago Lake. He described learning “everything there is to be known about criminal investigations – fingerprinting, taking and developing photos, taking casts of tire marks, footprints.” They also learned about explosives, a variety of firearms and how to use judo to break out of holds “and how to throw your adversary off his feet,” he wrote.

“I hope you’re having a whale of a time at camp,” he wrote. “The way you’re going in your marksmanship, it looks as tho’ you will have to come here and show me a few pointers about shooting guns.”

A letter that Howard Wright received while he was at summer camp in the 1940s from his brother Elmer. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Elmer Wright left Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 13, 1944, aboard the Daniel Chester French, a Liberty Ship bound for Iran and loaded with ammunition and other war supplies. It was part of a 90-ship convoy that ran into a storm off the North African coast. Records indicate the seas were still turbulent when the commodore ordered some ships to change their positions on the night of March 5.

By the following morning, there was confusion because the convoy was stretched across 12 miles, said Howard Wright, who has been able to piece together the events of that night from military records and first-hand accounts from survivors. The two rerouted Liberty Ships, the Daniel Chester French and the Virginia Dare were about 4 miles behind.

“It was a monster storm and his ship was directed right through our own minefield,” Howard Wright said.

The Virginia Dare was the first to run into a mine and sent out a distress call at 7:15 a.m. Five minutes later, the ship Elmer Wright was on hit the mines. It was loaded with ammunition and soon exploded.

Those on board were ordered to immediately abandon ship. It sank within 30 minutes.

HEROIC ACTIONS 

The men on board scrambled to get to the six available lifeboats. But Howard Wright said his brother and the other 86 Army passengers didn’t know that the lifeboats had open drains in the bottom that needed to be closed before they were lowered into the raging sea.

As the ship sank, Elmer Wright swam to a lifeboat alongside Lt. James Boyle, who survived and later wrote to the family about what happened. The men were pulled into the lifeboat and grabbed onto the same oar, working together to row because the seas were too strong for one man alone. The boat was filling with water and Elmer Wright told Boyle he’d help bail it out using his helmet.

A few minutes later, the boat was lifted by a large wave and turned over. Boyle never saw Elmer Wright again.

“He was frightened like the rest of us, but not once did he show the slightest sign of fear. When many were praying aloud and paralyzed with fright, he kept his head and tried to do what he could,” Boyle wrote. “During the short time I knew him, he was always a gentleman, and in the boat, he acted like a man.”

Elmer Wright was among the 37 men from the ship who died that day.

Howard Wright flips through his mother’s address book that he used to begin contacting people to ask about his brother’s death in World War II. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Soon, the telegram arrived at the Wright home in Pennsylvania, followed by a letter from Brig. Gen. Robert H. Dunlop that said he was missing in action but provided no details about what had happened.

On May 9, 1944, Dunlop wrote another letter to the Wright family, this time informing them that Elmer Wright had died on March 6 when he was a passenger “on a United States ship that was sunk as the result of enemy action in the Mediterranean Sea near Bizerte, Tunisia.”

“I know the sorrow this message has brought you and it is my hope that in time the knowledge of his heroic service to his country, even unto death, may be of sustaining comfort to you,” Dunlop wrote.

Three years later, Dorothy Wright wrote a letter to Army officials, the never-ending grief of a Gold Star Mother evident in every line. She relayed Boyle’s details about the terrifying minutes after their ship ran into trouble and her fear that her son, “who had a nervous heart and was quite hard of hearing,” couldn’t hear the warnings that the boat was about to go over.

A photo of Elmer Gay Wright, far right, with his parents Clifford R. Wright, Sr. and Dorothy Gay Wright sits in the living room at Howard Wright’s home in East Boothbay. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

“He was a good swimmer, or he couldn’t have made the boat through the waves in the first place. Perhaps his heart, which beat rapidly through nervousness and exertion, collapsed under the strain of the swim and the work in the boat,” she wrote. “I only hope that he wasn’t stunned temporarily and regained consciousness miles away from any help. Perhaps he hung on to something as Lt. Boyle did, but no one saw him collapse and his body was among those left floating like driftwood.”

It wasn’t until years later that Howard Wright learned the truth: The Daniel Chester French was taken down by friendly fire, not an enemy.

He said he’s glad that his mother never knew because it would have been so upsetting. But he still wishes he knew what his brother’s unit was doing on that ship. Relatives of other men from the unit have told him it was a “hush-hush” mission that involved frequent contact with both Allied and Axis spies.

Eighty years after he lost his brother, Howard Wright wonders what he’d think of his 50-year search for answers.

“I would hope he would think I’m trying to make sense out of a senseless loss. It’s one thing to be killed in action by the enemy, but to be killed in action by your own, that’s a big pill to swallow,” he said, pausing as his voice was overcome with grief. “He gave his life.”

A portrait of Elmer Gay Wright hangs in his 95-year-old brother’s East Boothbay office. The family knew little about what happened to the young Army soldier, who was awarded a Purple Heart in 1944. Wright, now 95, has spent the last 50 years trying to find answers. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer