Lupe Higareda was born in February 1924 in Galesburg, Illinois, one of eight children to Manuel and Mary Higareda, who were from Mexico. He went to Galesburg High School and was nicknamed “PeeWee.” He registered for the draft on February 6, 1943, in Knox County when he was a junior in high school and was soon serving in the Navy Reserve.
On August 2, 1944, Higareda was serving on the U.S.S. Fiske (DE 143), of the hunter-killer Task Group 22.63. The group was called on to investigate a visual contact with a German U-boat. The submarine dove and then fired three torpedoes on the approaching warships. The first missed, but after three minutes the second hit the Fiske on her starboard side amidships. The Fiske broke in half after 10 minutes, with both parts drifting apart and eventually sinking vertically about 800 nautical miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland.
Thirty-three crew members were lost, including Higareda. His body was never recovered. The survivors, among them the commander and fifty wounded men, were picked up by the destroyer escort U.S.S. Farquhar (DE 139) and taken to Newfoundland for medical attention. The U.S.S. Fiske received one battle star for her service.
The loss of the Fiske raised to 175 the number of American warships lost since the war began, including 134 sunk, 32 listed as overdue and presumed lost, and nine destroyed to prevent capture by the enemy.
Seaman Higareda appears on Tablets of the East Coast Memorial New York City, Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England, and has a cenotaph memorial at the Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and is officially considered buried at sea.
A memorial to him lies in Section MA, Site 107 of Rock Island National Cemetery. Honor his service at his Veterans Legacy Memorial page.
This #VeteranOfTheDay is from the Veterans Legacy Program. To learn more about the VLP, our partnerships and how we share the stories of Veterans in our national cemeteries, please visit the VLP webpage.
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