Biography

Korb, Max (Kord); b. June 20, 1903, Vilna, Poland (Lithuania); Polish American; Primary School education; US Navy, USS Maryland, 1921-25; Single; Driver and Seaman (NMU); CP 1931; Received Passport# 415645 on May 18, 1937 which listed his address as 88 Middleton Street, Brooklyn, New York; Sailed June 2, 1937 aboard the Aquitania; Arrested on June 20, 1937 when the vessel he was traveling to Spain on, the Joven Teresa, was intercepted by the French aviso Granit near Port-Vendres; Arrived in Spain on June 21, 1937 after crossing the Pyrenees; Served with the Albacete Auto Park, November–December 1937; XV BDE, AutoPark, January-October 1938; Served at Teruel, Aragon, and the Ebro Offensive; Rank Soldado; Returned to the US on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; WWII Merchant Marines; Killed in the sinking of the Stella Lykes on July 27, 1942; Korb was an oiler on the vessel and died when the ship was torpedoed.

Source: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 924; Joven Teresa list from a letter from Jean Massé to Jim Carmody dated November 30, 1988; VALB Office File (indicates Torpedoed); American Merchant Marine at War www.usmm.org.

Photographs: Max Korb in Spain, RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 924; and two from his 1934 Application for Seaman’s Certificate of Identity.