Navy 1st Class Raymond Culpan was born on November 29, 1911 in Pawtucket, RI, the son of William Culpan (1875-1938) and Anne Thomas (1874-1954). His parents were born in England and immigrated to the U.S. in 1905 and naturalized in 1917. William supported his family as a "pattern maker" at a local cotton mill.
Soon, Raymond left home and married Ida Mae Grant (1921-1953) in Pensacola on April 3, 1936. She was the daughter of a railroad machinist Calvin Peter Grant Jr. (1877-1940) and Martha M. Gray (1884-1970). Raymond would enlist in the Navy on November 18, 1940 and was trained as a ship's baker. He was assigned to the general stores ship, USS Pollux on May 6, 1941. Her duties were to transport supplies anywhere in the North Atlantic, as needed. In that capacity, the Pollux sailed from Boston on February 15, 1942 in a convoy escorted by the destroyer USS Truxten. Their destination was the large naval base at Argentia, Newfoundland. But three days out, they were struck by a huge winter storm with hurricane force winds and mountainous waves. On February 18th, the Truxtun was slammed onto the jagged rocks of Chambers Cove on the Newfoundland shore. Shortly thereafter, the Pollux followed them onto the rocks where both began breaking apart.
The crew of the Truxten went over the side where most were swept out to sea or dragged under. Few made it to shore, but many that did froze to death. Two Pensacola brothers James Henry and Leo Franklin Cato perished with them. Only 46 from the destroyer's 156 would survive the night. Those on the Pollux faired a little better with a loss of only 93 out of 233. However, Raymond did not live to return home to his wife and family. Fortunately, the bodies of James Henry Cato and Raymond Culpan were recovered and buried in the Ft. McAndrew cemetery in Newfoundland. After the war, Raymond was brought back on November 25, 1947 and reburied in the Long Island National Cemetery in New York. Ida Mae would remain in her hometown of Pensacola where she remarried Joseph Sewell but would pass away in 1953 at the age of 32-years-old. However, her tombstone is inscribed as "Ida Mae Culpan."
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