By the time most of y’all read this, it will be very close to Memorial Day 2026, the annual day our nation sets aside to remember the brave warriors who gave their lives in service to this country. The following is a story that brings home the poignancy, significance, and intent of this important national holiday.
The Lowcountry abounds with treasures and secrets, and sometimes you stumble across something that touches your soul. That happened to me and a service buddy, Commander Jerry Swartz, USN (Ret), when we were wandering around the grounds of Old Sheldon Church a few years ago. I had been to the ruins many times, but this one occasion took a special turn.
We spent some time reading inscriptions on gravestones, and we came across this:
The marker surprised us because most of the gravestones on the historic church site are for local families with long legacies in the region. Clearly, Electrician’s Mate Third Class Roland F. Nichols, USN, was a young man, not yet twenty years old, who had perished during World War II. But why was he buried at Old Sheldon Church?
I hopped onto some internet search engines, and lo-and-behold, I found young Roland:
More detailed information about Roland can be found here, and an account of the USS Argonaut’s sinking can be read here.
So, the stone in Old Sheldon Church does not mark Roland’s grave. It is a cenotaph, i.e., a memorial stone, not a grave. Roland rests at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the remains of the USS Argonaut, an American submarine sunk by the Japanese on January 10, 1943.
As former service members, my friend (Navy) and I (Marine) were moved by what we had learned. Roland’s youth, his unfulfilled life, and his lonely, tragically heroic death stirred our innermost emotions. We wanted to find out why and how this marker came to be on the grounds of the Old Sheldon Church. Surely, it was a symbol of someone’s deeply abiding love and grief.
I contacted Maureen Keillor (see photo credit on the above picture of the cenotaph). Maureen turns out to be an avid grave historian who loves digging up (pun intended) the backstories of family lore. Her blog posts can be read here. She and I exchanged several emails, and she found the following document: the record of EM3 Nichols’ mother ordering a different cenotaph in 1967 to be placed in a cemetery near her home in Winter Haven, FL.
It seemed strange that a mom would wait so many years to commemorate her son, but the plot thickens.
I received the next photo from historian John McCardell (more on John below).
The above is the gravestone of Roland Nichols’ father, a WWI Navy veteran who passed away on July 16, 1967. He is buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, Winter Haven, Fl. Thus, it seems, shortly after his father’s death, Roland’s mom ordered a cenotaph to be placed alongside his father’s grave. Two sailors, father and son, joined in death. Touching.
Through Maureen Keillor, I also learned there was another cenotaph memorializing Roland Nichols in a cemetery in Newton Falls, Ohio, where Roland’s mom and dad were originally from.
Thanks to John McCardell, a fourth cenotaph popped up in Arlington National Cemetery. Interestingly, the date of Roland Nichols’ death is incorrect on the Arlington stone. It reads “Jan 11, 1944,” while the correct date is January 10, 1943. I spoke with an official at Arlington who told me family members can request memorial stones. The official confirmed the presence of the stone, but she had no information about who requested it or when it was placed. That part of the puzzle so far remains a mystery.
So, we had discovered that EM3 Nichols is commemorated in four different locations: Florida, Ohio, Arlington, and the Lowcountry…and actually there’s a fifth location because his name is memorialized in Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Philippines, an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
We could understand Roland’s mom and dad placing cenotaphs in traditional cemeteries near family, but Beaufort County in an old historic church ruin??? That was a head scratcher.
Since the early 1970s, the Old Sheldon Church Ruins have come under the custodianship of St. Helena’s Anglican Church in Beaufort, one of the oldest Anglican churches in the country, founded in 1712. A dear friend, Claude Dinkins, is very involved with the church, so I reached out to him. It was Claude who reminded me that a mutual friend, the preeminent historian and former president of Sewanee College, John McCardell, had done extensive research in the church’s archives. Claude further reminded me that another mutual friend, author and former history professor at the University of South Carolina, Larry Roland, might also have insight. Larry is an amazing source of historical information, and, with tongue in cheek, he insists that “all history begins in Beaufort,” (Roland) We had a long conversation about various prominent Beaufort folks with the name Nichols, but nothing led to a connection with the cenotaph.
John McCardell did his bit to search the church archives and communicate with the diocese. He’s still working the archives, however, as of this writing, the source of the Old Sheldon Church cenotaph remains a mystery. The search continues, and I’ll keep y’all posted.
One thing is for sure. EM3 Roland F. Nichols, USN was dearly beloved by his family…may he rest in peace. He clearly was not forgotten, and considerable effort went into ensuring his memory lived on. My research has brought me close in spirit to this young sailor, and, in my own way, I share his family’s grief. His death poignantly reminds us of the sacrifices so many young men and women have selflessly made on behalf of the nation and its citizens.
So, when you fire up the barbecue and crack a cold one this Memorial Day, please spend a few moments of silent gratitude to EM3 Roland Franklin Nichols and the many thousands like him.
They gave their all for us, and many of them, like young Roland, lie alone at the bottom of the sea.
Hand salute to a brave sailor.