Pentagon to exhume and identify almost 400 from Pearl Harbor attack

[ABNAK]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/14/pentagon-plans-to-identify-hundreds-killed-in-pearl-harbor/?intcmp=latestnews

Interesting. Supposed to be guys from the USS Oklahoma.


I read a book years ago about the salvage operation at Pearl Harbor. It was very detailed and had tons of pics. IIRC it was published by the Department of the Navy. The Oklahoma had capsized so they rigged up a host of winches to pull her upright. When they entered flooded compartments they would not totally pump the water out at first; instead, they left just enough in each compartment that they could float the bodies into body bags, then pumped out the rest of the water. One compartment (I think it was the Oklahoma but it may have been one of the other battleships that sunk) near the engine room had a couple guys who had gotten into an air pocket and they had marked off days on the bulkhead until they died as the air ran out. I think they lived until just before Christmas of '41.

This was the book I'm talking about: http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Wallin/index.html

[SteyrAUG]

One compartment (I think it was the Oklahoma but it may have been one of the other battleships that sunk) near the engine room had a couple guys who had gotten into an air pocket and they had marked off days on the bulkhead until they died as the air ran out. I think they lived until just before Christmas of '41.


That was painful to read. Personally I think they should be considered "buried at sea" and left alone.

[ABNAK]

That was painful to read. Personally I think they should be considered "buried at sea" and left alone.

Actually a total of 32 guys were rescued from the Oklahoma's capsized hull. They would have been trapped in air pockets and were beating on the bulkheads with wrenches or whatever they could find. This allowed rescuers to listen for where the tapping was coming from and cut their way through the hull with torches, jack hammers, and saws and then pull the guys out.

Here is the story I was thinking of with the guys who lived until just before Christmas. It was on the USS West Virginia:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19951207&slug=2156455

[SteyrAUG]

Actually a total of 32 guys were rescued from the Oklahoma's capsized hull. They would have been trapped in air pockets and were beating on the bulkheads with wrenches or whatever they could find. This allowed rescuers to listen for where the tapping was coming from and cut their way through the hull with torches, jack hammers, and saws and then pull the guys out.

Here is the story I was thinking of with the guys who lived until just before Christmas. It was on the USS West Virginia:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19951207&slug=2156455

I'm always thankful for the ones we got, but the ones who were alive and left to their fate are always the ones that hurt the most. Two weeks is a long time to spend hopeful for a rescue and then the realization that nobody even knows you are there and that you are just waiting to die.

Has to be one of the worst deaths imaginable. Nothing but time to think about what you wish was different.

[ABNAK]

I'm always thankful for the ones we got, but the ones who were alive and left to their fate are always the ones that hurt the most. Two weeks is a long time to spend hopeful for a rescue and then the realization that nobody even knows you are there and that you are just waiting to die.

Has to be one of the worst deaths imaginable. Nothing but time to think about what you wish was different.

I also feel sorry for the guys standing guard who had to listen to the desperate tapping and know there was nothing they could do about it. It may have almost been merciful in a way when the tapping stopped, although they knew what that meant. I can't imagine seeing that whole thing go down, let alone the s-l-o-w death the guys inside suffered.

[Honu]

interesting they are doing that
wonder what the families think ?

good book link have to read through that :)