George Bieri
Courier Tribune
1 May 1939
page 8
George Bieri spent last week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bieri. George has just completed a four-months’ naval training course in CHicago and will be transferred to a naval base on his return. George says he likes the life of a seaman. He is a cousin of Reuben and Harry Bieri who are in the navy too.
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U.S. Navy Muster Roll
U.S.S. Detroit
30 Nov 1940
Courier Tribune
30 Dec 1940
page 3
Mr. and Mrs Pete Bieri entertained with a dinner Sunday evening in honor of Rueben Bieri, who is in naval school in Washington, D. C. and George Bieri, who is on furlough from Honolulu. Other guests at the dinner Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bieri, Bern; Will Martin, Bern; Mr. and Mr. J. W. Bieri and children from Lansing and Miss Ruby Bieri, Beatrice.
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U.S. Navy Muster Rolls
USS Detroit
10 Dec 1941
The DuBois Paper
11 Dec 1941
page 1
Home Boys in Sea War Zone
Ira and George Bieri, sons of Jonathan Bieri, are in Hawaiian Islands.
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U.S. Navy Muster Rolls
Naval Receiving Station, New Orleans, LA
30 Jun 1942
Courier Tribune
30 July 1942
Page 8
George Bieri, U.S. Navy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bieri, Lansing, has been sent home to recuperate from a recent appendicitis operation. Dr. C. B. Has, Seneca, has been instructed to take care of him and met George at Hiawatha and took him to his home where he will stay until able to return to duty. He is a brother of Mrs. Hash.
Courier Tribune
21 Dec 1942
page 3
Mrs. C. B. Hash and daughter went to Lansing Saturday to visit Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Bieri and to see Mrs. Hash’s brother, George Bieri, with the U.S. Navy. George had a three-day leave. He is assigned to a sub chaser on the east coast. Mrs. Hash and daughter returned today.
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Muster Roll
USS Liscombe Bay (CVE-58)
Bieri, George William
The Expositor (Brantford, Ontario, Canada)
3 Dec 1943
page 4
ONE U, S. ESCORT
AIRCRAFT CARRIER
WAS TORPEDOED
Washington, Dec. 3-(AP)The United States escort aircraft carrier Liscombe Bay, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Gilbert Island operations, and was the only American vessel lost during the engagement, the Navy announced Thursday.
Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix, reported missing, was said by the Navy to have been aboard the carrier. Capt. Irving D. Wiltsie, Commander of the Liscombe Bay, also is reported missing in action.
The total casualties have not yet been disclosed.
The Liscombe Bay was the first American escort carrier reported sunk since U. S. entry into the war. An escort carrier is a small one, normally used to escort convoys.
Nebraska Daily News-Press (Nebraska City, NE)
13 Dec 1943
page 1
Survivors Tell
Carrier’s Death
Survivors of Liscombe
Bay Describe Torpedo
Hit; Loss of Life Great
SAN FRANCISCO – (U.P.)- The American escort aircraft carrier Liscombe Bay went down in flames with a great hissing sound off Makin Island while members of the crew struggled through burning oil in the waters around her, survivors said Monday.
A split second after a lookout shouted “here comes a torpedo,” the carrier’s light blinked out, and flames leaped high above the flight deck.
The Liscombe Bay went down Nov. 24. The Navy has announced that she was the only American warship lost in the conquest of the Gilbert Islands.
About 200 survivors arriving here said the casualties were heavy. Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix, task force commander, and Capt Irving D. Wiltsie, the skipper, both were lost.
Lt Cmdr M. U. Beebe, squadron commander, Anaheim, Cal., described the scene:
“There was a terrific rumbling throughout the ship, and an explosion that lifted me off the deck. The next thing I knew I was trying to get out the door in the darkness, but could find no passage. Fire started and I don’t know how I got there, but I made the flight deck. It was ablaze and there was oil burning on the water.”
There were more explosions before the Liscombe Bay made her final dive, bow out of the water until the last.
Eerographer L. D. Blakely, Lincoln, Neb., “watched her go and heard her death gurgle.”
“There was no suction, only a loud hissing,” he said.
Marshall County News
16 Dec 1943
page 9
Missing in Action
George Bieri, petty officer first class, former Seneca resident, is missing in action following the destruction of the Liscome Bay, small U.S. Aircraft carrier in the Gilbert Island area.
The Roanoke TImes
28 Nov 1993
Page B-1
World War II in the Pacific
Offshore, Japanese submarine I-75 torpedoed the U.S. escort carrier Lipscombe Bay, which exploded spectacularly before sinking with the loss of 600 sailors.
Courier Tribune
6 Dec 1943
page 2
George Bieri on Lipscombe Bay?
Friends are concerned about the report of the sinking of the Lipscombe Bay, an aircraft carrier, in the Pacific last week. George Bieri, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. J. N: Bieri, Lansing, and a brother of Mrs. C. B. Hash Jr., Seneca, was believed to have been assigned to the ship as an electrician. Daily papers last week carried a notice about the sinking of the ship, but there seemed to be no definite news regarding the details. Relatives of the ship’s crew have received no notice to date and are hopeful there may have been some mistake in the report Mr. and Mrs. Bieri have an older son, Ira, who is an electrician on cruiser, in active service in the Pacific.
Courier Tribune
9 Dec 1943
page 1
GEORGE BIERI
IS MISSING
NOTIFIED TUESDAY
Second War Blow for
Bieri Family. Was on
Escort Aircraft Carrier
Official notice was received here Tuesday from the U.S. Naval Department that George Bieri, Petty Officer 1st class, is missing in action, in the Pacific war area.
When daily papers reported last week that the Lipscombe Bay, a U. S. Naval Aircraft Carrier, was long overdue, relatives and friends of George Bieri, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Bieri, Lansing, were concerned for his safety and well being. It was generally known by his relatives that George was assigned to the ship as Fire Controlman, first class.
George is 24 year old, has served in the Navy since January 1938 and has seen considerable action. He is well known in the Oneida community where he attended school and graduated from high school. He had written his parents this fall that he had been recommended for chief petty officer rating, effective November 1, but they haven’t heard if the rating had been confirmed.
While George never lived in Seneca, he has many friends and acquaintances in this community. He is a brother of Mrs. C. B. Hash and a nephew of Sheriff and Mrs. Pete Bieri. His elder brother, Ira, serving his country in the navy, is an electrician assigned to a cruiser, in the Pacific.
The report regarding George is the second blow to members of the Bieri family since the United States entered the war. A cousin, Harry Bieri, son of Mr. and Mrs. Pete Bieri, was reported killed in action about 18 months ago.
The name of Lt. T. P. Capps, Topeka, was on the list of missing in action in the sinking of the Lipscombe Bay. He was a dentist and a close friend of Dr. Gerard Wempe.
