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.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Two Kitsap, Washington Area Pearl Harbor Survivors Die-- Part 1

From the February 27, 2013, Kitsap (Wash) Sun by Ed Friedrich.

GERHARD JENSCH, 93, died February 21st.
DON GREEN, 90, died Monday

JOSEPH STENSTROM, 92, died December 20, 2012.

There are now only eight Pearl Harbor survivors still living in Kitsap County.

Gerhard Jensch was a Gunners Mate on the USS California, which had 105 deaths that day, manning a 5-inch anti-aircraft gun.  He abandoned ship and swam to Ford Island.  :"I was halfway there, swimming and I noticed these little pinpoints of water, water spouts.  The fighter planes, they were strafing us."

He wasn't hit, got to shore and took shelter among some pipes, but the Navy believed he had died in the attack and notified his parents.  An obituary appeared on the front page of his hometown newspaper in Saginaw, Michigan.

The Navy found out he was alive and sent a telegram to his parents a few days later.

Oops!  Sorry!  --GreGen

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