9. WWII Hero Brother of Iconic PHS English Teacher

Updated: Apr 3, 2022

For so many years everyone who graduated from Pensacola High School remembered the iconic English teacher by the name of Miss Marianne Raborn! But few people know of her heroic brother who was on duty in the South Pacific at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Albert Raborn was the executive officer aboard the Navy submarine USS Sea Lion that was going through an overhaul at the Cavite Naval Base in the Philippines. Ironically, his duties overlapped with those of Julian Guillot, a civilian storekeeper from Pensacola, also stationed at Cavite at the time.

Albert was born on September 27, 1910 outside of Defuniak Springs in Walton County, Florida. He was the son of general physician John D. and Grace K. Raborn. He completed high school in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1928 and went on to attend the US Military Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1934. He joined the Navy’s submarine force in 1939 and after extensive training he was assigned to the USS Sea Lion in 1940, first as its navigator and then as its executive officer.

In the spring of 1940 the Sea Lion set sail for the Philippine Islands to take her place with the Asiatic Fleet. Upon arrival she commenced operations within a patrol area ranging from the island of Luzon to the Sulu Archipelago. After months of patrolling she was ordered into port on December 8, 1941 for a routine overhaul at the Cavite Naval Yard, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. But two days later 54 enemy bombers appeared over Manila Bay heading straight for the Cavite facilities. The Sea Lion was tied up at the time at the Machina Wharf with another submarine, the USS Sea Dragon lashed to her inboard side. To her outboard side was tied the minesweeper USS Bittern. At the time of the attack only the Sea Lion’s commanding officer LCdr. Richard G. Voge along with Raborn, and three enlisted men were above deck. Suddenly, among the chaos, the Sea Lion was struck by two Japanese bombs killing four of her crew below and partially sinking her at her berth. The attack also demolished the entire Cavite Navy Yard leaving the closest repair facility over 5,000 miles away at Pearl Harbor. Knowing that repair of his submarine was impossible Voge ordered anything of value stripped from the boat and explosive charges to be placed inside. He then ordered everyone off the ship and the explosives ignited sending his own sub to the bottom of the bay on Christmas day 1941. This made the Sea Lion the first submarine casualty of the war. Unfortunately, the bodies of the four dead Americans had to be left aboard due to time restraints and lack of operable equipment to retrieve them. Their bodies were not recovered until 1959 when the wreckage was raised, and America could finally honor their sacrifice with a proper burial.

Raborn would join the retreating forces escaping Manila and eventually found his way back to Pearl Harbor where he would serve in various positions aboard the USS Pickerel and the USS Porpoise until he obtained his own command of the USS Picuda.

With the Picuda, Raborn would earn the nation’s second highest award for valor, the Navy Cross, for his patrol of February 1944. He would also earn a Silver Star for the war patrol of May 1944 as well. Time after time, the newly promoted Raborn would challenge the Japanese Fleet by sending one enemy transport after another to the bottom of the Pacific. While he was driving his ship and his men to the limits of human endurance his sister Marianne continued her educational pursuits at Pensacola High School. She was born on November 23, 1900 in Inverness, Florida and never chose to marry during her lifetime. She graduated from Florida State University for Women in 1923 and moved to Pensacola where she began her 41-year academic career. After years of dedicating her life to Pensacola High School, Miss Raborn finally retired in 1964 before passing away on March 25, 1986 in Escambia County, Florida. Her brother Albert would retire as a Navy Captain before passing away on August 6, 1971.