Wild Rose Soldiers & Tuscania Sinking

The Tuscania left Hoboken, New Jersey on January 24, 1918. It was transporting American Soldiers overseas when it was torpedoed about 6PM on February 5, 1918. They were off the Irish coast. About 55 Waushara County soldiers were the last off the ship because their lifeboats had been wrecked and they had to wait for a destroyer to pick them up. The news did not reach Waushara County until the morning of February 7th. It took until Feb. 11th for all survivors to be reported.

Three soldiers from Waushara County were killed: Russell F Bennett, Plainfield; Alcide Carollo, Lohrville; and Frank Sharpe, Redgranite. The survivors from Wild Rose were: Miles Colligan, Earl N. Campbell, Lewis Hanson, John M. Inda, Joseph Inda, Miner J Johnson, Ellery J Patterson, Ingwald Sorensen and John Z Swendrzynski.