Joe Marion Kelley

The USS Oklahoma was on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That was the morning that the Japanese Empire attacked the United States by surprise. The Japanese used dive–bombers, fighter–bombers, and torpedo planes to sink nine ships, including five battleships, and severely damage 21 ships. There were 2,402 US deaths from the attack.

429 of the deaths were from the USS Oklahoma. The crew of the USS Oklahoma did everything they could to fight back. In the first ten minutes of the battle, though, eight torpedoes hit the Oklahoma, and she began to capsize. A ninth torpedo would hit her as she sunk in the mud. 14 Marines, and 415 sailors would give their lives. 32 men were cut out through the hull while the others were beneath the waterline. Banging could be heard for over 3 days and then there was silence.

In 1942 as the effort was begun to turn the ship upright, the bodies of the crew were removed. They were cleaned and separated into 60 co-mingled caskets and buried in a cemetery in Hawaii. Later they were moved to the Punch Bowl Cemetery.

After the battle, the Navy decided that they could not salvage the Oklahoma due to how much damage she had received.

The difficult salvage job began in March 1943, and Oklahoma entered dry dock 28 December. Decommissioning September 1, 1944, Oklahoma was stripped of guns and superstructure, and sold December 5, 1946.

The Oklahoma parted her tow lines in rough seas and sank May 17, 1947. 540 miles out, bound from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. Today, there is a memorial to the USS Oklahoma and the 429 sailors and marines lost on December 7, 1941, located on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Local boy returns home:

Joe Marion Kelley was born in Springfield, Greene Co. Missouri on April 3, 1921, as the second child to Charles and Hallie Kelley. Along with his older sister and 2 younger brothers, they lived in a 4 room house on a dirt road. Charles worked for the railroad and Hallie took in sewing to support the family.

When Joe was 10 years old, he became ill with Scarlet Fever which settled in his brain, resulting in Spinal Meningitis and causing him to be paralyzed from head to toe. He was never expected to live and the doctors gave him the serum not expecting it to help at all. His mother, prayed with the faith that he could be healed. He did recover and had no after effects of that illness, which the specialists said was a miracle.

Hallie divorced Charles in 1931 and took the 4 children to live in Los Angeles, California near her brother, where they lived in a converted garage. Hallie took in sewing and the boys eventually worked as pinsetters at the local bowling alley, to help support the family.

All Joe ever wanted to do was join the Navy. He never wanted to be a policeman or anything else. When he graduated from Alhambra High School and went down to join, they checked the divorce papers to see if Hallie had been given full custody as she was supposed to have been given. But she had not been, so she was told to write to her ex-husband for permission. She wouldn't do it as he had never done anything in the way of support for her or the 4 children, so why should he be asked to give permission. The only other thing was for him to be made a ward of the court. So that is how he entered the Navy in July 1940, at 19. (Although, technically he was of age to have joined without permission).

The last time he was home on leave in October 1941, he was so proud of his ship because it was unsinkable and he couldn't think any better of it, and told his mother not to worry. As he left to return to duty, he told the family that he didn't want them to go to the bus station, but rather say their good-byes at home. The last they ever saw of him, he was walking down the middle of the road with his duffle over his shoulder and an open Bible in his other hand. He returned to the USS Oklahoma, which was at San Francisco drydock for repairs, leaving to return to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, just 2 months before the Japanese attack.

The family's little house had caught fire in the roof, they thought it was probably the rats that chewed on the electrical wires. They were all living around the neighborhood until the repairs were completed. When the bombing happened one of the neighbors ran to tell Hallie about what had happened and she stated that she knew then that Joe had died as she had had a dream the previous night, and he was laying on the deck of the ship.

Someone called the local radio station and one of the reporters came out to interview her, and when he found out that she had not received any notice from the Navy, he notified them and Joe was included in the search efforts. Joe was officially declared missing as of December 20, 1941 and lost in action as of February 16, 1942.

On his last leave at home, Hallie had insisted that they hire a photographer to take a family picture. She couldn't afford it, but they let her pay 50 cents each month. She had not paid it off when Joe died, but she commented how glad she was that she at least had a photo with him in his uniform.

Thanks to the survivors and friends of the USS Oklahoma who have diligently requested that the remains of the 429 sailors and marines be disinterred from the 60 co-mingled caskets in the Punch Bowl Cemetery in Hawaii, and tested for DNA matches, to make the choice to be returned to their families or reburied at the Punch Bowl with identification.

Our family was located and asked to give our DNA which 2 nieces gladly gave. In 2015, the Secretary of the Navy finally signed the papers to open the caskets belonging to the USS Oklahoma and over a 5 year period, to test the remains of those family members.

We were notified in April 2018 that Joe’s remains had been identified through DNA. The paperwork began in October to bring those remains back to San Gabriel California where his mother and grandmother are buried. He was cremated and his urn has been placed in their gravesite along with a proper footstone marking. It is only a symbolic effort on our part, but now after 77 years he is home.