Irénée Du Pont

Irénée Du Pont.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Irénée Du Pont

Alternative Title

Irénée Du Pont - American Steam Merchant

Subject

World War, 1939-1945

Description

The Irénée Du Pont, which was an American Steam merchant C-2 class ship. Florida veteran, Otis Francis Potts, served on the Irénée Du Pont around 1942 as a Armed Naval Guard for the civilian vessel. The vessel visited places such as London, United Kingdom, Cape Town, South Africa, and Karachi, Pakistan, in its effort to supply the Allied forces with various goods at the Karachi Airfield. A U-boat sank the Irénée Du Pont on March 17, 1943.

Otis Francis Potts, otherwise known as “Lucky,” was born on October 8, 1923, to Helen Merrit and Lester Potts. The family moved from his birthplace of Perry, Florida, to Washington, North Carolina, by 1930. Potts joined the United States Navy on September 19, 1941, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He served as a Naval Armed Guard for civilian transport and merchant ships, supplying the Allied war effort. Potts was discharged as Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Petty Officer in 1945. After the war, he joined the construction business as a general contractor. He married Norma Kendall after the war, and they had a daughter in 1963. Potts passed away on April 26, 1996 and is buried in the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.

In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for k-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.

Source

Digital reproduction of original black and white photograph.

Format

image/jpg

Extent

33.2 KB

Medium

1 black and white photograph

Type

Still Image

Accrual Method

Donation

Mediator

History Teacher

Curator

Stoddard, James
Burke, Mike
Cravero, Geoffrey

Source Repository

Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia, USA

External Reference

Abney, Barb. "VA Selects UCF Historians to Archive Stories of Deceased Veterans Veterans." UCF Today, March 13, 2017. Accessed August 9, 2017. https://today.ucf.edu/va-selects-ucf-historians-archive-stories-deceased-veterans/.
Black, Jeremy. World War Two: A Military History. London [u.a]: Routledge, 2003.

Citation

“Irénée Du Pont,” RICHES, accessed March 29, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/10062.

Locations

Categories