Benjamin W. Bonk
Service Record
- Rank: Seaman First Class
- Branch: U.S. Navy
- Serial Number: 08117935
- Unit: USS Escolar (SS-294)
- Entered the service from: New Jersey
- Died: November 1944
- Memorialized at: Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
- Awards: Purple Heart
Seaman First Class Benjamin Wallace Bonk was born in 1924, the sixth child of Stanley and Stella Bonk. His father had come to America from Poland in 1906. In 1930 the family owned a home at 1148 Jackson Street, and his father was working as a solderer in a lamp factory. At some point the family had also lived at 1409 Mount Ephraim Avenue in Camden.
Benjamin Bonk attended the Henry L. Bonsall School on Mount Ephraim Avenue. The March 10, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post reported that he lived at 1102 Morton Street in Camden.
Benjamin Bonk served in the U.S. Navy in the submarine branch for 16 months. He had completed training at the submarine school at New London, Connecticut, by March 10, 1944. During his time in the Navy he was also stationed at Bainbridge, Maryland; San Francisco, California; and Pearl Harbor. He was killed while serving aboard the submarine USS Escolar, along with Radioman First Class Kenneth S. Campbell of Westmont, New Jersey. He was survived by his parents, Stanley and Stella Bonk, of 5059 Russell Avenue, Pennsauken, New Jersey; two brothers, Alexander and Stephen; and three sisters, Josephine, Eleanor, and Sophie.
USS Escolar (SS-294)
Built by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and commissioned June 2, 1944 with Commander William J. Millican in command, the USS Escolar was a Balao-class submarine carrying a crew of 6 officers and 60 enlisted men.
The USS Escolar completed her final training for combat at Pearl Harbor, from which she put out for her first war patrol on September 18 and proceeded to Midway to top off with fuel. There she joined the USS Croaker (SS-246) and the USS Perch (SS-313), and the group left on September 23 to conduct a coordinated patrol in the Yellow Sea north of 30°N. Commander Millican was in command of this coordinated attack group, designated "Millican's Marauders."
On September 30, when Escolar was estimated to be about north of the Bonin Islands, the following partial message was received from her: "This from ESCOLAR X attacked with deck gun boat similar to ex-Italian Peter George five OTYI ———." Although no further transmissions were ever received by bases from Escolar, who was forced to break off the transmission and the engagement with the gunboat at that time, Croaker had stated that she suffered no damage and was in frequent communication with Perch and Croaker until October 17, 1944.
Perch reported that on October 17 she had received a message from Escolar stating that she was in position 33-44 N, 127-33 E, and was heading for 33-44 N, 129-06 E. Neither Perch nor Croaker could raise Escolar by radio after this transmission was received.
Had Escolar left her area on the scheduled date, she would have arrived at Midway about November 13, 1944. All attempts to contact her failed, and she was reported on November 27, 1944 as presumed lost. It is assumed that she was lost about October 17. Information supplied by the Japanese on anti-submarine attacks gives no clue as to the cause of her loss. A course line plotted between the two positions given above does not cross any known Japanese mine lines, but positions of mines laid before April 1945 are not definitely located. The known minefields in Tsushima Strait were laid in April 1945. The Yellow Sea area is thought to have been mined; there were mines in the general area of Escolar's predicted position, and the most likely explanation for her end is that she detonated a mine.
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Polish Heroes War Memorial
The Polish Heroes War Memorial at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J. (Park Drive and Route 130) unites three monuments — to Casimir Pulaski (1936, moved here 1984), Thaddeus Kosciusko (1984), and, since 1995, the members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church of South Camden who died in World War II.
St. Joseph's Parish WWII War Memorial
A bronze plaque in the vestibule of St. Joseph Church at 10th and Liberty Streets in Camden, presented by the Catholic War Veterans, St. Joseph's Post 418, and dedicated April 3, 1949, honoring the parish's heroic war dead of World War II.
Parent-Teacher Association News
A Camden Courier-Post account of Father's Night at the Henry L. Bonsall School Parent-Teacher Association, February 1938, listing the schoolchildren who took part — among them Benny Bonk.