December 7, 1941 is a day as they said will live in infamy. And
that it has 75 years later we discuss and remember what happened on that
morning at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I don’t think there is a person alive that
doesn’t know the story of what happened.
We talk about a lot stories of heroics and loss and how it
turned the war in favor of the allies. One of my favorite quotes that gives me
goose bumps is allegedly from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto some months after the
Pearl Harbor attack saying “I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled
him with terrible resolve” he may or may not have wrote it but I sure do like
it.
As a current member of the Navy reserves going into my 11th
year, Pearl Harbor means a great deal to me and reading stories of what young
men did just astounds me. One story that caught my eye this year is of a Navy
Chaplain that did way more than he was asked and gave just what he was asked by
his country.
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| Reverend Aloysius Schmitt (LTJG) |
I am speaking of Reverend Aloysius Schmitt, not many
chaplains get their name mentioned among the likes of war heroes. This chaplain
put his life on the line for his fellow sailors and in the end paid the
ultimate sacrifice for saving others. I would love to tell you that Mr. Schmitt
was from Oklahoma but that’s not the case. He was born in St. Lucas, Iowa and
became an ordained priest in 1935 after just four years he became a chaplain in
the United States Navy as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in 1939. One year after
joining the Navy he was assigned to the USS Oklahoma. He had no idea the day he
received those orders that he would be on one the most famous ships in history
and eventually lose is his life on that shi
p.
It is said that Schmitt had finished up morning Mass when torpedoes
struck the side of the Oklahoma and the lower decks began filling with water. Trapping
all lower deck, the sailors inside. Rev. Schmitt was among a group of sailors
who found a small porthole leading out of the ship and instead of getting out
he used his height to lift other sailors through the porthole to escape the
ship which was sinking fast. It took the Oklahoma only 12 minutes to capsize
not much time for hundreds of sailors to escape. Rev. Schmitt went down with
the ship that day but saved several other lives in doing so. He became the
first Chaplain to die in World War II, in all there would be 100 total chaplains
die by the end of the war.
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| Capsized USS Oklahoma (center) alnongside the USS Maryland (right) |
He was awarded several medals including the U.S. Navy and
Marine Corps Medal for bravery and the Purple Heart. He also had a destroyer
named after him the USS Schmitt. Now that is one way to go out if you are going
to go.
Of the 429 people who
perished that day Schmitt was one of the “unknowns” for a long time but was
recently identified and sent back to Dubuque, Iowa and finally had a proper
burial on October 7, 2016.
This is just one of many stories of heroism that occurred on
the USS Oklahoma that day, and a stretch for Oklahoma history but a story I
wanted to tell.
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| The USS Oklahoma Memorial Pearl Harbor dedicated Dec 7 2007 |
Twitter: @okiehistorypics
Rev Schmitt picture courtesy of; Telegraph Herald
USS Oklahoma memorial picture courtesy of: Oklahoma Memorial
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