USS California BB44 at Pearl Harbor
While America pauses to remember the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I pause to remember my Uncle Robert (Bob) Eugene Norman a bosun aboard the USS California on that fateful morning.
In a unique set of circumstances, Bob was blown overboard by a bomb blast that morning and was reported as killed. Headlines in Marion, Illinois proclaimed him to be the martyred home town hero and my grandparents held a funeral service for him. A week after the attack, Bob surfaced in a hospital with serious wounds from which he recovered. He served the remainder of WWII attached to the California during its repairs at Pearl Harbor and subsequently throughout the Pacific. A tiny footnote in an enormous conflict, Bob and his Wife Louise had 4 children and were together until his death in 1986. Below is a brief account of the California at Pearl Harbor:
USS California (BB-44), flagship of the Battle Force, was hit forward and aft by two Japanese torpedoes in the early minutes of the Pearl Harbor raid. She was later hit by a bomb and near-missed by another, which caused additional flooding. Though her design included very good protection against underwater damage, California‘s actual condition was much less satisfactory, with many watertight compartments open and some design details proving unable to resist the effects of torpedo warheads.
California had steam up and was nearly ready to get underway when a large mass of burning oil, drifting down “Battleship Row”, threatened to set the ship afire. She was ordered abandoned, and, when the crew returned on board sometime later, it was impossible to control her flooding. Despite strenuous efforts, she slowly settled to the bottom of Pearl Harbor, coming to rest on 10 December. The battleship was raised in March 1942 and received repairs and modernization work that lasted until January 1944, over two years after she was sunk. Nearly a hundred of her officers and men were killed in action during the Pearl Harbor attack.
That’s an amazing story! I can’t imagine getting word that one of my children died, having a funeral and then finding out later that they were alive. What a roller coaster!
I remember reading the newspaper articles in the 50’s, it was the biggest thing in that part of Illinois since Al Capone’s hideaway was bombed by a rival. I think my grandparents were just swept up in the media frenzy of the day.
Richard: I love you for posting that about our Uncle Bob! We have our freedom because of him, grandpa Norman, our dad and guys like you! thanks!
Jerry
Thank you too Jerry, you put on the uniform yourself.
On Dec 7th, I remember the story of you coming into port when they were filming Tora! Tora! Tora! I think this family has a strange history of being reported KIA instead of MIA, too.
Yes, we watched Tora Tora Tora a few months ago and you can see my ship for about 1/2 second in one scene. And, yes, I didn’t consider my own KIA instead of MIA thing too but no media frenzy there.