The Coast Guard's most disastrous World War II accident took the life of Gil Camarlinghi.

Gilbert Joseph Camarlinghi was born in Santa Cruz, California, on February 4, 1922, into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Camarlinghi, a local hotel restaurant owner. A brother, Rudy, also joined Gil in the family. While he was still a child, his family moved to Santa Clara, California.

In 1938 the Camarlinghi family returned to Santa Cruz and Gil transferred into Santa Cruz High School. In high school he followed a general and varied program of study and served as advertising manager on the school's Trident newspaper. Following his graduation in 1941, Gil remained in the community until the fall of 1942.

Gilbert Camarlinghi enlisted in the US Coast Guard in October 1942. After completing boot camp at Alameda, Apprentice Seaman Camarlinghi was assigned to patrol duty at Morro Bay, California, followed by duty at the Coast Guard station at Bay and Powell Streets in San Francisco.

In October 1944, Camarlinghi was sent to the South Pacific to join his ship, the USS Serpens.

“The Serpens was destroyed on the 29th January 1945, as she was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, in the South Pacific. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when the Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. 198 Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion and another soldier who was ashore was killed by shrapnel. The loss of the USS Serpens was the largest single disaster ever suffered by the United States Coast Guard.”

Seaman Second Class Gilbert Joseph Camarlinghi was killed in that explosion and his remains are believed to have been lost with his ship.

(SCHSC Pg. 8, SCSn February 20, 1945 1:2; Wartime History Project, USS Serpens AK-47, 2002, http://www.wartimememories. co.uk/ships/serpens.html, [16 September 2008])