USS Bronstein (DE-189)

Ben Richard Bronstein , born on 14 April 1915 in Manchester, N.H., graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1936 and from Tufts College Medical School at Boston in 1940. Dr. Bronstein was appointed Assistant Surgeon with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) on 4 October 1941. He reported to the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard on 6 November; then moved on to Casco Bay, Maine, to await transportation to Argentia, Newfoundland, to meet Jacob Jones (DD-130). He reported on board that destroyer late in December. While serving as a roving antisubmarine patrol ship off the Delaware Capes on 27 February 1942, Jacob Jones spotted the burning wreckage of the torpedoed tanker R. P. Resor. The destroyer searched the area around the wreckage for survivors and then headed south on patrol. At dawn on 28 February, the undetected German submarine U-578 sank Jacob Jones with at least two torpedoes. Lt.(jg.) Bronstein was lost with the ship.

I (DE-189: dp. 1,240; l. 306’0”; b. 36’7”; dr. 11’8”; s. 20.9 k. (tl.); cpl. 216; a. 3 3”, 2 40mm., 8 20mm., 3 21” tt., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Cannon )

Bronstein (DE-189) was laid down on 26 August 1943 at Kearny, N.J., by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched on 14 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Dina Bronstein Kurtz, the mother of Lt.(jg.) Bronstein ; and commissioned on 13 December 1943, Lt. Sheldon H. Kinney in command.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Bronstein I (DE-189)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.