On May 4, 1917, Dr. Ladislaus L. Adamkiewicz, answering President Woodrow Wilson's call for physicians, enlisted in the United States Navy. Dr. Adamkiewicz had originally been assigned to the U.S.S. Utah, but by the end of the year he was serving as assistant surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Jacob Jones. As a result he was onboard when the ship encountered a German submarine and was torpedoed on December 6, 1917. It sank off the coast of Europe and lost two-thirds of its 111 man crew. The Office of the Secretary of the Navy sent the above telegram, dated December 8, 1917, to the Adamkiewicz family to inform them of the ship's sinking and of Ladislaus' survival.
[Milwaukee Small Collection 94: Folder 3]
