From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S. Boarded Lusitania as 1st class with his parents and 7 1/2 year old brother William Sterling Jr Hodges. The family was traveling to Paris, France to relocate their father's job. On May 7, 1915 Lusitania was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat in the midst of the Mid-Atlantic ocean. A survivor stated that he last saw the Hodges family scrambling up the deck staircase. The whole family lost their lives in the sinking. The mother Sarah Hodges body was recovered, as well as one of her son's. Thought to be Dean Hodges, but turned out to be William Jr. News claimed the two boys survived.