Seaman Second Class Hosea McCall Fleming

Our Hometown Heroes

Hosea McCall Fleming

Killed when German U-Boat Sank Ship

Hosea McCall Fleming was a Seaman Second Class in the U.S. Navy. He was born in 1915. Assigned to the USS Millinocket Seaman Fleming would find himself off the coast of Cuba. The Millinocket was a steam merchant ship. On June 18, 1942, a German U-Boat would strike the Millinocket with a torpedo and the ship would sink. Fleming was officially listed as killed in action on that date and was buried at sea.

Fleming’s wife, Mary S. Fleming, who lived along Route C, in Griffin, was notified of her husband’s death. They had a daughter, Ouida. Fleming is honored with both a monument in Battery Park in New York City, called the Tablet of the Missing; and with a memorial in his parent’s home of Kingsland, Camden County, Georgia.

Although Fleming did not come home alive, a community now honors the World War II, Hometown Hero. Navy Seaman Fleming will be honored with an individual plaque to be installed in Historic Downtown Griffin. The plaque is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Quimby Melton III.