From the Dec. 7, 2010, Springfield (Mo) News-Leader.
J.C. Penwll, now 88, was a gunnery mate 3rd-class on the UCC Oklahoma that day. He was inspecting the ship's munitions locker before the attack and still has the key. He saw the first bomb hit the airport and then the Oklahoma was hit. As it was turning over, he swam to the USS Maryland with the other survivors.
He carried that key in his pocket for the rest of the war for good luck. Today, he went to Oklahoma City to give it to the USS Oklahoma Museum. At Pearl Harbor, he lost two teeth and suffered a broken nose. "After the Oklahoma I was never hurt very bad," he said.
He does admit to "getting lost" for about two weeks after the attack with a group of Marines manning a coastal machine gun nest so as not to get sent home with the injured. He was later reassigned to a destroyer and was at Guadalcanal and Midway.
The Good Luck Piece. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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