Ken Potts, One of Last Two USS Arizona Survivors, Dies at Age 102

From the April 24, 2023, ABC News.

Howard Kenton Potts died Friday, April 21 at his home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, Doris.  The announcement was given by Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts' USS Arizona shipmate and close froend.

According to Stratton, Mr. Potts "had all his marbles" but lately was having a hard time

Potts was born and raised in Honey Bend, Illinois, near Litchfield and Route 66.  He had enlisted in the Navy in 1939

He was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies  to the Arizona that morning of attack.  He said that a loudspeaker ordered sailors back to their ships, so he got on a boat.

"When I got back to Pearl Harbor, the whole harbor was  afire.  The oil had leaked out and caught on fire and was burning," according to him.

Sailors were tossed or jumped into the oily muck below and Potts and the others pulled them to safety.

The only remaining survivor now of the USS Arizona is Lou  Conter, 101, living in California.

--GreGen

Sangamon Ordnance Plant-- Part 3

In October 1942, $20,000 cash intended for payroll was stolen  en route from a courier enroute to the Farmers State Bank of Illiopolis from the post office.

In August 1943, an artillery shell exploded at the Oak Ordnance Plant, killing Maurice Pryor, age 22, of Springfield, Illinois. Ten others were injured.

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Following the end of the war,  the facility closed and most of it dismantled, though some parts still remain.  A large portion of the site has been returned to farmland.  By June 1949, 90% of the farmland had returned to production.

The land had cost the government $3,186,922 and it was sold for $2,126,490, mostly to former owners (so they did well).

The Federal Works Agency received 359 buildings which were dismantled and removed, many for use as schools and colleges.

--GreGen

Sangamon Ordnance Plant (Illinois)-- Part 2

Around 15,000 workers were employed and construction was largely completed by  September 1942 at a cost of  $35 million.  It employed thousands during the course of the war, including many Woman  Ordnance Workers (WOW) and produced 20, 57, 75, 90 millimeter shells as well as 3 inch armor-piercing and high-explosive artillery shells.

It also produced  bomb fuses and  the core of fire bombs known as "Bursters."

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Transporting Workers to the Plant

The plant used  IRT  Second Avenue Elevated coaches to get workers to it from Springfield.  Some photographs show that the IRT cars were riggesd with trolley poles for the job to obtain power for car heating and lighting.    At the end of the war,  the Defense Plant Corporation discarded these cars from the various plants.

--GreGen

Sangamon Ordnance Plant (Illinois)-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In the last post I wrote about the Dekalb Corn Company buying some of this ordnance plant in Central Illinois (near Springfield) as war surplus after the war was over.

The Sangamon Ordnance Plant  was a United States Army amminition manufacturing facility constructed and operated during World War II.  It was located west of Illiopolis in Sangamon County, Illinois, encompassing 20,000 acres.

It began as two separate plants, the Sangamon and the Oak Ordnance Plants, separated by Illinois Route  36 and operated by  Remington Rand and Johnson & Johnson respectively.  Prior to the end of the war, they were consolidated into the Sangamon Ordnance Plant operated by Remington Rand.

Construction began in early  1942, following the acquisition of local farms through eminent domain with the groundbreaking occurring in April 1942.

--GreGen

   

DeKalb Corn Buys War Surplus Property in 1948

From the January 10, 2023, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois) "Looking Back.

1948, 75 Years Ago

"Purchase of 553 acres of land and eight major buildings at the Sangamon Ordnance Plant, Illiopolis, Illinois, by the  DeKalb Hybrid Seed Company of DeKalb, was announced today by the War Assets Administration.

"The land and buildings were only a portion of the huge ordnance plant which loaded artillery shells for the Army services during the war.

"The portion purchased by  the DeKalb Company was  four of the nine shell-loading lies.  The newly acquired property will be used for expansion of the company operations, officials said today, with inbred chicken breeding to use a major portion of the facilities."

Getting Rid of War Surplus.  --GreGen

Remains of Illinois Airman Identified

From the January 7, 2023, ABC Eyewitness News (Chicago)  "Remains of World War II airman from Illinois finally identified thanks to new technology."

The remains of a WW II airman have finally been accounted for.

Harold Kretzer, a 32-year-old Odin man in downstate Marion County, was a U.S. Army  Air Forces  tech.

In the summer of 1943,  he was on board a bomber that was hit by enemy fire and crashed in Romania.  He was buried there as an unknown hero,  but new technology has allowed his remains to be identified.  

He will be reburied in Springfield, Illinois.

--GreGen

Another Illinois Pearl Harbor Unknown Identified: Herbert Jacobson-- Part 1

From the same article as the news about Keith Tipsword.

Tipsword wasn't the only Illinois veteran at Pearl Harbor recently identified through the use of DNA.  The remains of Herbert Jacobson, 21, of northwest suburban Grayslake, were recently identified, and his family, some of them who now live in North Carolina, chose to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The night before the attack, Jacobson had worked running boats from the USS Oklahoma to the dock, according to his nephew, Bradley McDonald.  After his shift, he filed a report, got a meal and retired to sleep in his bunk.

That's where he likely died when the ship was hit by torpedoes, capsized and sank, trapping hundreds of men below decks.

--GreGen

Keith Tipsword Comes Home-- Part 3: The Ceremony

Tipsword's family lived in tiny Moccasin in Effingham County.  Their house was just a mile from the cemetery, but is long gone, with only a silo remaining.  The family still has a salt-and-pepper shaker that Tipsword made aboard his ship and brought home to his mother while visiting.

The Patriot Guard motorcycle group escorted Tipsword's casket from a military base in the East St. Louis to Effingham, with firetrucks on overpasses and bystanders saluting.  Many members of the local veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans attended.  

Sailors folded the American flag on the casket and presnted it to Tipsword's sister.

"It was pretty moving," said Sapp.

--GreGen

Illinois Veterans' Remains Finally Come Home from Pearl Harbor-- Part 1: Keith Tipsword

From the December 7, 2022, Chicago Tribune by Robert McCoppin.

In a cemetery amidst the cornfields of downstate Illinois last month, a military honor guard fired shots in salute before the remains of World War II veteran Keith Tipsword were lowered into the ground.

Tipsword, a machinist's mate, was 22 when he died on the battleship USS West Virginia in the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.  In the wake of the attack, his body was never identified, and he was listed as m missing in action, until the Navy recently identified his remains through DNA.

His sister, who was 5 years old when he died, and is now 86, vaguely remembers a man in uniform who visited their home in tiny Moccasin, Illinois, her son Greg Sapp said.

"My mom said that her mother always had an expectation the door would open  and Keith would be there," Sapp said.  "She never thought he wouldn't come home. "  Well, he finally has."

With his burial in November, Tipsword is among dozens of Pearl Harbor veterans who have been identified and brought home to be reburied with loved ones.  Through new DNA techniques, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has been able to sort through remains that were long considered to be unidentifiable.

--GreGen

Keith Tipsword's Death Notice

In the last post I wrote about his burial in Illinois after years of not being identified.  I am very thankful for the DPAA and all their efforts to identify American unknowns.

This death notice from 1942 accompanied the article from yesterday and had a picture of him.

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KILLED IN ACTION

Keith Warren, son of  Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tipsword of Effingham, has been killed in action, his parents were notified by the U.S. Navy department Tuesday.  He was a first-class machinist.

The date of his death and details were not given.    Keith, who was  27 last June, had been in the  navy since 1936.

He was born and reared in Effingham county.

Besides his parents, he leaves two brothers, Dean, in the army, and Hugh, in Idaho, and four sisters, Mrs. Gail  Stanford,   Mrs. Frances  Jean White, Betty Fay and  Dalyne Tipsford, all of  Effingham.

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--GreGen

Illinois Sailor Killed on USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor Laid to Rest: Keith Tipsword

From the November 16, 2022, Stars & Stripes.

Beecher City, Illinois

An Illinois sailor who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has been laid to rest in his home state more than eighty years after his death.

U.S. Navy Machinist's Mate 1st Class Keith Tipswood was buried Thursday alongside his parents and other relatives at Moccasin Cemetery near the rural  Central Illinois village of Beecher City.

Tipsword was 27 years old when he was killed aboard the battleship USS West Virginia.

His remains were buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, but they were identified this year by the defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)

Dalyne  Sapp of Effingham, the last of his siblings surviving attended Tuesday's  funeral sefrvice.  Sapp, 86,  said her brother is now buried near the family farm where he grew up  among the "hills and hollers" of Effingham County's Moccasin Township.

--GreGen

Trio Killed at Pearl Harbor Recently Identified

From the November 2, 2022, Stars and Stripes "Service members recently identified from past conflicts include trio killed at Pearl Harbor."

At least five service members  were accounted for last month by the Defense Department agency tasked with recovering U.S. troops listed as missing in action or prisoners of war.

Three of those identified by the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) were killed at Pearl Harbor in World War II and two fought in Korea.

All three Pearl Harbor men were on Battleship Row on December 7, 1941.  

Edward Conway, an electrician's mate from Auburn, Illinois, was on the USS Oklahoma.  His remains were identified  on October 1.

Floyd Clifford was a machinist mate from Mulvane, Kansas,  who also was killed on the Oklahoma.

Keith Tipsword, a machinist mate from Moccasin, Illinois, was on board the battleship USS West Virginia.

Their remains were identified July 12 and Septrmber 27, respectively.

I will have the two from Korea in my Cooter's History Thing blog today.

--GreGen

USS West Virginia Victim to be Buried in Effingham, Illinois, This Month: Keith Tipsworth

From the November 7, 2022, Effingham (Illinois) Radio "Former Navy machinist mate 1st class and Effingham County native Keith Tipsworth  returning home."

More than  eighty years after his death at Pearl Harbor, Effingham  native Keith Tipsworth is coming home.  He was a Navy Machinsit Mate 1st Class stationed on the battleship USS West Virginia that fateful day and one of 106 crewmen aboard the ship who were killed.

His remains will arrive at St. Louis Lambert Airport on Thursday, November 10 and will make their way to Effingham to Johnson Funeral Home.  Funeral services will  be held Tuesday, November 15 at the funeral home with visitation prior to the service from  10 to 11 am.

Burial will be at Moccasin  Cemetery in rural Beecher City, Illinois.

--GreGen

Sailor Killed on USS Oklahoma Laid to Rest, Finally: Herbert 'Bert' Jacobson

From September 13, 2022, AP by Don Babwin.

A twenty-one year-old sailor was laid to rest Tuesday after a decades-long effort to identify his remains at Pearl Harbor.

Members of Herbert "Bert"  Jacobson's family waited all their lives to attend a memorial for a  young man they never knew or met.  Jacobson was among the 400 USS Oklahoma Unknowns.

The casket holding his remains was carried Tuesday morning on a horse-drawn caisson led  by a military escort before his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Herbert Jacobson was from the small town of Grayslake in northern Illinois.  His family knew he had died, but there was no body to bury.  The USS Oklahoma lay submerged for two years before it was uprighted and the bodies recovered.  By then there wasn't much to go on for identification.

More.  --GreGen

USS Oklahoma Sailor to be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery: Herbert Barney Jacobson

From News 8 ABC Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Savannah Sinclair.

Herbert Barney Jacobson, who died aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, is set to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, September 13.

He was born  October 9, 1920, in Illinois and served on the Oklahoma as a Fireman 3rd Class.

Navy Firemen were  part of the Engine Roon Force, Artificer Branch.  They were responsible for standing engineering watches and performing mibor maintenance repairs.

He was just 21 years old when he lost his life.

--GreGen

USS Oklahoma Unknowns: Joseph W. Hofman and George Price

From the April 19, 2022, 10 WBNS  Chillicothe, Ohio.

JOSEPH W. HOFFMAN

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)  has announced that the remains of U.S. Navy  Musician 1st Class Joseph W. Hoffman were identified.

He was from Chillicothe and on board the USS Oklahoma that tragic day.

He is scheduled to be buried August 23.

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From the April 16, 2022, Herald-Whig Dallas City, Illinois.

GEORGE PRICE

Funeral service will be held May 4 in Dallas City, Illinois.

He was on the USS Oklahoma that tragic day.

--GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Sailor Identified: Lester P. Delles

From the June 1, 2021, DPAA.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Electrician's Mate  3rd Class Lester P. Delles, 21, of St. Charles, Illinois, killed during World War II was accounted for on February 12, 2021.

He was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor when the attack came.  This resulted in the deaths of 429, including Delles.

He was buried October 23, 2021, in Sutter Creek, California. 

--GreGen

Mothers of World War II Flag Found

August 5, 2021, Platt County Journal-Republican by Steve Hoffman.

The local Monticello American Legion was cleaning out closets when they came across evidence of a little-known World War II organization.  It was the flag of the Mothers of World War Ii, Unit 4, Illinois according to the wording on the flag.

It is a relatively ornate, linen flag featuring light colored lettering on  a bright red field, with a red, white and blue shield in the middle.  Gold tassels still trail from the edges.

After some research, it was determined that their primary goal was to retrieve some of the dead of that war.  They helped bring the body of  Robert Meece back to the United States and get him interred in Cerro Gordo.  He had been killed in the European Theater on July 30, 1944.

Founded in February 1943 it appears that the local unit existed for about ten years before fading away or being disbanded.  During the time it existed, they volunteered for war efforts and to help veterans on their return.   

Their projects included  donations of dollars and items to veterans  hospitals as well as sending clothing, toilet articles and food to service men still overseas.  Donations were also made to Kirby Hospital, the DeWitt-Piatt  County Health Council and the Red Cross.

I'd Never Heard of Them. --GreGen

William Francis Hellstern of USS Oklahoma-- Part 2

William was missing, but he was not alone.  Navy personnel spent more than two years uprighting the USS Oklahoma before they could begin getting at the remains.  By that time it was difficult to do any identification.

The remains were buried together at the Halawa and Nu'uana cemeteries.

Those remains were later transferred to 46 plots at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl.  In 2015, DPAA  started exhuming the remains for analysis using DNA.

Ted Hummel said that he had first been contacted by the DPAA about five and a half years ago.  Hummel provided them with his DNA, some of his mother's from her locket of hair from the family Bible.

They identified his uncle.

William Francis Hellstern was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Wheat Ridge next to his sister, Ted's mother.  Hellstern also has a marker in Illinois, but the family decided to bury his with his sister.

Again, What a Great Thing the Government Is Doing.  --GreGen

Gunner's Mate 2nd Class William Francis Hellstern, One of USS Oklahoma's Unknowns-- Part 1

From the May 18, 2018, 9 News NBC, Colorado "Missing sailor killed at Pearl Harbor brought home after 76 years" by Noel Brennan.

Years ago, before she passed away, Ted Hummell's mother, Jeanne, cut off a piece of her hair and placed it in her Bible next to locks of hair from her siblings.  One of those locks of hair belonged to Ted's uncle, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class William Francis Hellstern, a man Ted never got to meet because he died on the USS Oklahoma that day in 1941.

The 20-year-old from Peoria, Illinois, never made it off his ship.

Letters were sent from the Navy to the family afterwards.  On December 20, 1941,  Rear Admiral  Randall Jacobs, wrote:

"The Navy Department deeply regrets to inform you that your son, William Francis Hellstern, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class, U.S. Navy, is missing following action in performance of his duty and in the service of his country."

Another from February 1942, began, "After exhaustive search it has been found impossible to locate your son."

--GreGen