81st Anniversary of Pearl Harbor: Herbert Jacobson-- Part 4: The USS Oklahoma Rolled Over

Seven of my blogs today will be about Pearl Harbor and this story which started in my RoadDog's RoadLog blog.

During the attack, the Japanese hit the USS Oklahoma with numerous torpedoes and the ship rapidly rolled over and sank.  Many of the men, including Herbert Jacobson, were trapped in the upturned hull and a few were cut free through intense efforts of sailors and civilian Navy Yard employees.

But the attack resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen aboard the USS Oklahoma, including Herbert Jacobson.  In all, 2,402 Americans were killed that day, when Japanese forces attacked much of the U.S. Pacific fleet.

It took several years before the remains of the 429 deceased USS Oklahoma sailors entombed in the ship to be recovered.  Many of the remains were commingled because there was so little left of the bodies.

Continued in my Not So Forgotten:  War of 1812 blog.

Pearl Harbor, 79 Years Later: Identifying the USS Oklahoma's Unknowns

From the December7, Tulsa (Oklahoma) World  "Tim Stanley:  79  years after Pearl Harbor sinking, project to identify USS Oklahoma's dead nearing its end" by Tim Stanley.

The name Pearl Harbor didn't mean much to most Americans as day broke on December 7, 1941, but by the end of the day, they sure had heard of it.

But, to Oklahomans, one name did strike a bell right up front, and that was what had happened to the ship named after the state.  The USS Oklahoma (BB-37).  Just last year, the Oklahoma  Military Hall of Fame recognized the importance of the vessel by making it the first ship to be inducted into it.

Tim Stanley says the USS Oklahoma started becoming more real for him about four years ago.  That's when he started seeing occasional press releases about Sailors from that stricken ship being identified using DNA.  Almost 400 had died on that ship and not been identified.

Since then, he has been on hand at Tulsa International Airport for some emotional scenes involving families of the fallen.

--Pearl Harbor

Illinois USS Oklahoma Pearl Harbor Victim Identified

All of my blogs today will be about Pearl harbor, this being the 76th anniversary of the attack.

From the December 7, 2016, Chicago Tribune "For Pearl Harbor Dead, A Final Rest" by Ted Gregory.

"Katherine Kany was at work last spring when she got the phone call that pulled together the loose ends of a family mystery.  The remains of her uncle, a 22-year-old from Waukegan who died 75 years ago Wednesday, finally had been identified.

"The call was part of a project begun in earnest last year with the goal of identifying and returning to loved ones the remains of 388 sailors and Marines -- 18 from Illinois -- killed when Japanese fighter planes riddled the USS Oklahoma with torpedoes on December 7, 1941.  At least five of the explosions struck the Oklahoma about 8 a.m., and the battleship capsized in less than 10 minutes."

"Kany, of Arlington, Va., and other relatives gathered October 25, at Arlington National Cemetery for a full military funeral for Navy Fireman 3rd Class John H. Lindsley, a man who died before Kany was born."

Identifying These Dead Is the Correct Thing to Do.