William J. Hoffman and LeRoy Weber at Pearl Harbor-- Part 2

The West Virginia was soon engulfed in flames and it wasn't until the next day that they were extinguished.It sank in shallow water, but was later raised, repaired and essentially rebuilt and rejoined the war later.

William J. Hoffman had a lot to do with the reconstruction of many of the damaged vessels.

After the huge salvage project at Pearl Harbor, he received another  commendation for his 'successful handling of the largest dry-docking program ever undertaken,' having supervised repairs on 139 dry-docks in his charge  in September 1944.

His first citation which he received several days after the attack  read "for extremely efficient  action and unusual presence of mind and disregard of personal safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor."

Weber enlisted in the Navy in 1939 and stayed in until 1945 and never forgot how close he had come to losing his life that day.  "The Phoenix was in an awful lot of battles," he said.  "But somehow, I made it through."

--GreGen