80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 4: The Story of Stephen Pepe of the USS Oklahoma

While Eugene Marchand was watching the attack unfold from the hospital, another sailor in the harbor was doing all he could to save his shipmates on the USS Oklahoma.

His name was Stephen Pepe.

He was a water tender/fireman on that ship, responsible for stoking the boilers to keep the ship moving.

His niece, Terry Kovaks, 90,  remembers him as a big man with a big heart.

Then in 2018, she learned that he was coming home for internment after his remains were unidentified after recovery from the stricken ship.  But Terry and her daughter  Barbara Kovaks gave DNA which led to his identification.

Stephen Pepe did not live to tell his story, but the Kovaks received a packet of information from the Navy including a story from one of Stephen's shipmates on the Oklahoma, Finch Stowell.  His widow, Lida, had told a reporter what he had told her about that day.

It said that Pepe had put himself in danger to save his buddies and paid the ultimate price.

When the ship was hit by all the torpedoes and began to capsize, it began filling up with water.  Finch Stowell was outside a porthole and pulling men to safety.  Unfortunately, Pepe was too big to fit through it, but he didn't try to find another way out, but stayed by the porthole and pushed the men out.

--GreGen