UNSOLVED MA - Atlantic Ocean, LIVING Male, WWII amnesia victim, Feb'45

PFF

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Years ago I read of a World War II amenisa case-found on a raft in Atlantic February 1945-amenisa and mute because of wounds-died March 1975 in Boston Mass-still a "John Doe"
 
Hi, PFF and welcome to Websleuths! I found your post very interesting and tried looking for more information. Unfortunately I haven't found anything so far. If I do, I will let you know. Would love to find out this man's identity!
 
I think there was a refernce to this man case in a book by Jay Robert Nash the crime author
 
Interesting PFF thank you for the link to the article.

The card found with him issued to a Charles Jamieson ( surname spelling from article) gave a DOB as April 1898.

I don't have ancestry.com anymore but this one would be a good sleuth for those that do!

I'll nose around and see if I access any census records online for that DOB and name.
 
Someone should send this case to Colleen Fitzpatrick of Identifinders...
 
Interesting PFF thank you for the link to the article.

The card found with him issued to a Charles Jamieson ( surname spelling from article) gave a DOB as April 1898.

I don't have ancestry.com anymore but this one would be a good sleuth for those that do!

I'll nose around and see if I access any census records online for that DOB and name.

I have an ancestry.com account and am looking. 1898 was a bit old to have served in WWII but who knows?
 
1898 is old for active duty - he'd have been 43 when the US entered the war. Wikipedia says that all men aged 18 - 65 had to register and "later" (versus 1941) legislation made all men up to 45 liable for immediate induction. A person born 1898 would have been on the border line for this. Of course, as a merchant marine he'd have been a civilian of sorts, albeit in a combat zone, meaning he'd not be subject to the same restrictions.

If he looked 47 when they pulled him out of the water then I'd have no reason to doubt that he was 47.
 
If that was indeed his name then given his YOB we might find a WWI registration card for that name (probably a few and then we might be able to narrow it down?)
Just a thought.
 
I have an ancestry.com account and am looking. 1898 was a bit old to have served in WWII but who knows?

Hi Webrocket. Would you mind to check on your ancestry if there are any more articles listed for this man. I thought there might be a Stars and Stripes one but couldn't access it when I did a non-member search. TIA!
 
His name was James Hamilton. In the Stars and Stripes section was an article from March 29, 1957 where his sister identified him.

Not sure if items from ancestry.com are in any way copyrighted (doubt it) but they often can't be viewed without an account.
 
no James Hamilton listed on ABMC or CWGC Somestimes Civilians listed on websites
A seaman James Hamitlon was lost in USMM_but that was in 1942 -not 1945!

Webrocket maybe you might wish to place message at USMM message board:

http://www.usmm.org/shipmate_search.html

"Does Anyone know of a Seaman named James Hamilton? Possible the unknown
"John Doe" who was found in the Atlantic in Feb 1945 with a card reading "Charles
Jamison" and died 30 years later still an amenisa case?" {Link to articles of unknown patient}

:twocents::twocents:
 
I'm confused -- he was identifed in 1957, but when he died in the 70's, the people taking care of him still didn't know who he was?
 
no James Hamilton listed on ABMC or CWGC Somestimes Civilians listed on websites
A seaman James Hamitlon was lost in USMM_but that was in 1942 -not 1945!

Webrocket maybe you might wish to place message at USMM message board:

http://www.usmm.org/shipmate_search.html

"Does Anyone know of a Seaman named James Hamilton? Possible the unknown
"John Doe" who was found in the Atlantic in Feb 1945 with a card reading "Charles
Jamison" and died 30 years later still an amenisa case?" {Link to articles of unknown patient}

:twocents::twocents:

I'm not vouching for the accuracy of the story, rather stating what it said. I've had so-so results sending ancestry links to people who do not have an account and I don't want to post it here lest there be any copyright issues. I know ancestry.com did not generate the original articles - they just scanned them into searchable databases.

This is exactly what the article said:

IDENTITY FOUND AFTER 12 YEARS

BOSTON - (UP)

The 12 year-old mystery concerning the identity of amnesia victim "Mr. X" has ended.

James Hamilton was identified by his sister, Mrs. Francis Hamilton, of Long Beach Calif., climaxing a long investigation by a Boston newspaper.

Hamilton had been carried on the U.S. Public Health Service hosptial records for 12 years as "Charles W. Jamieson (unverified)" while search for his true identity was conducted in the U.S., Canada and Britain.

Mrs. Hamilton, who resumed her maiden name following a divorce, said they were both able to recall childhood events during their first meeting. She hoped to make arrangements to move her brother to California.


She might have been a fraud but that is what the article said.
 
1898 is old for active duty - he'd have been 43 when the US entered the war. Wikipedia says that all men aged 18 - 65 had to register and "later" (versus 1941) legislation made all men up to 45 liable for immediate induction. A person born 1898 would have been on the border line for this. Of course, as a merchant marine he'd have been a civilian of sorts, albeit in a combat zone, meaning he'd not be subject to the same restrictions.

Typically during the war seamen serving in the merchant marine were older than their military counterparts, since most able-bodied young men were drafted. Merchant mariners were often career sailors who did not carry military ID, making them more difficult to identify.
 
Absolutely (although my father was a merchant marine officer from age 17 in 1942).

The point is that 47 wasn't actually too old to be enlisted, so would be even less surprising in a civilian sailor.
 
A version of this story is included in a book titled Unexplained Mysteries of World War II, by William B. Breuer, published in 2006 by Castle Books and reprinted in 2011.

Mr. Breuer's version presents the facts in this manner:

On 8 February 1945, a group of wounded Americans was off loaded from the USS LeJeune at Boston, MA. Among the wounded men was one who had a medical tag which identified him as - "Charles A. Jameson, 49, religion Catholic, citizenship American, Cutty Sark".

"Jameson" was suffering from a head injury and infected shrapnel wounds in his back. He was in a coma. When he evenutally came out of his coma, he could only identify himself by repeating the same information which had been on the card: "Charles A. Jameson, 49, religion Catholic, citizenship American, Cutty Sark".

Extensive efforts were made by military and Red Cross authorities to confirm the patient's identity, with no luck. There were no listings for a Charles A. Jameson in Navy, Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine records. The Cutty Sark was a sailing ship of the 19th century. No records existed of any ships named "Cutty Sark" in World War II.

It was learned that "Jameson" was deaf, and probably had been since his wounding. He communicated by writing on pads. As his condition improved, he was able to recall the names of all the world's major steamship companies. He was also able to describe in great detail, the Royal Navy's gunnery school in Gosport, England. British Navy and Merchant records were also searched for a Charles A. Jameson - with no luck.

One day, he wrote on his pad that he thought he had served aboard the merchant ship Hinemoa as first mate. He stated that the Hinemoa was steaming from Chile to England when it was sunk by a German criuser in the Atlantic.

Again, records were searched and indeed, a ship named Hinemoa had been sunk by a German ship, but in the English Channel, not the open Atlantic. A number of surviving crewmembers of the Hinemoa were located and shown a photo of "Jameson". None of them recognized his photo, and none recalled a first mate by that name.

William Breuer's narration of the story concludes that "No relative or friend ever visited him in the hospital where he was a patient for nearly 12 years, even though his photo had been published in countless newspapers."
 

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