William J. Brooks
William was my 2x great grandfather. William's only daughter. Frances Maria, was the mother of my paternal grandfather, Earle Martin. William enlisted on 1 Jul 1862 in Company G, 3rd regiment, South Carolina. Unfortunately, his military time was short as he was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 Dec 1862, leaving a wife and four young children on their own.
You can read my original post about William J. Brooks HERE.
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| Dials Cemetery, Laurens County, South Carolina |
Robert was the son of Harriet (Pease) and Sheldon Hunter and was my mother's step brother. He was aboard the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941. An interesting account by Historical Collections of Hawaii, Keepers of the Culture, A Day in Infamy, part 5A.
The battleship USS Oklahoma, an older ship with much less protection against underwater damage was hit by up to nine torpedoes. Her hull's port side was opened almost completely from below the forward gun turret back to the third turret, a distance of over 250 feet. She listed quickly, her port bilge struck the harbor bottom, and she then rolled almost completely over. She came to rest less than twenty minutes after she was first hit.
The huge 1,400 pound shells used for the big gun turrets broke loose and started rolling, crushing everything in her way.
The Oklahoma was preparing for a major admiral fleet inspection scheduled for December 8th. Contrary to normal procedure, all the watertight compartments below the water line were open, including the protective blisters. Once she was hit the water rushed in. Some of the Oklahoma's men were still alive inside her upturned hull, and their rescue became a focus of an intense effort over the next two days. Thirty-two sailors were recovered alive, but over four hundred were killed. In 1943, the capsized ship was rolled upright and raised in one of the salvage profession's greatest undertakings, but she was beyond repair. She sunk again while in tow from Hawaii to the west coast.
Some men waited in compartments for rescue when she first rolled over. Of 14 men trapped in compartment D-57, three made a daring escape. They swam nearly 20 feet down the trunk space, 35 feet out of the hatch and across the upside down deck, and finally ascended almost 30 feet to the waters surface. This compartment was known as the " Lucky Bag." Ordinary men with extraordinary courage swam approximately 90 feet to freedom. The hours of others awaiting rescue passed by slowly. Using hammers and wrenches, they pounded on bulkheads to draw attention to would-be rescuers. Those in the compartment of D-57, time was running out as the air grew foul and the water steadily rose. Only the group of 32 men were rescued, making the second greatest loss of life at Pearl Harbor.
You can read my original post about Robert M. Hunter HERE.
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| National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (aka Punchbowl) Honolulu, Hawaii |
Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice, William J. Brooks and Robert M. Hunter.
Wow, those are two major military events in US history. How sad that your family lost men in both.
ReplyDeleteThere may be others that I don't even know about. Yet.
DeleteWhen Daughter#1 was a student at Mary Washington College, we did the walking tour of Fredericksburg. I remember being shocked that people sat on their front porch and watched the war take place right in front of them. I guess that was the ultimate Reality TV of the day.
ReplyDelete