Gilbert Gregory Edgar, Jr.

Gilbert was named after his father and his older sister was named after her mother, Margaret. The two children were 12 months and ten days apart in age. The family lived at 1614 Montgomery Ave. in Philadelphia where Gilbert, Sr. rose from a stock clerk to become a buyer for C.F. Rumpp & Sons. At that time it was a nationally-known manufacturer of purses, wallets, and fine leather goods. 

In the 1920s the family endured a series of life-altering moments. Another son, David, was born in 1922 but died 24 days later. Within the next 12 months, both of Gilbert Sr’s parents died. After that the Edgars had a second daughter, Jane, in 1924. They moved to suburban Glenolden, southwest of the city, in 1925. Then a baby was stillborn in 1926. All of the deceased were buried in the Edgar family plot in Oakland Cemetery in Philadelphia. 

Margaret and Gilbert were teenagers when their parents divorced during the Depression. It was a shock to learn their mother died in 1936 at age 41, and she was buried at Mount Moriah.

Gilbert Jr. met and married Catherine Victoria Neville in 1937. They made their new home in nearby Collingdale where their daughter, also named Catherine, was born in 1938. When he registered for the draft in 1940 he was working at the Alloy Wire Metal Company. This may have been a job that was “essential to the war effort,” earning him a deferment, at least temporarily. 

The young family moved in with his father in Yeadon around 1942. When Gilbert enlisted in the Navy on March 4, 1944, Catherine was pregnant with their second child. 

Five months later, Gilbert boarded the USS Miantonomoh (CM-10) with the rating of Fireman, 2nd Class. The ship was a coastal minelayer, used to deploy naval mines, but Gilbert’s job was tending the two boilers in the engine room. The ship was sent to France to help clear ports after they were liberated so the Allies could deliver supplies to the front lines.

One important port city was Le Havre, which was liberated on September 12. Miantonomah arrived there September 21 with supplies and was preparing to leave on the 25th. There were still German mines in the harbor near the entrance of the English Channel, so the ship’s commander ordered almost all of the 300 crew members topside, wearing life jackets. 

The ship did strike a mine and in 16 minutes it sank. Coast Guard rescue units and French fishing boats picked up the survivors, but 58 sailors were lost, including Gilbert. Initially listed as missing in action, his remains were unrecoverable. 

Meanwhile, Catherine gave birth in July to a second daughter, Margaret, who never knew her father. His sister, Jane, joined the Women’s Army Corps in November and served until March of 1946. Her father died in 1947.

Gilbert’s name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France. This cenotaph (a marker remembering someone who is buried elsewhere) was installed at Arlington National Cemetery. His name was also added to his mother’s gravestone here at Mount Moriah.