Ed's Day Wednesday
Dear FOLKS,
Today we are observing Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Since it is also the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I thought it appropriate to discuss an individual from cousin Ed's family tree who was there on that fateful day.
Kenneth Gay Brakke, son of Andrew H. and Inga (Kjarstad) Brakke was born in Seattle, Washington on 04 December 1920. Ed's paternal grandmother was Anna Brekke. Ed's grandmother, Anna, and Kenneth's father, Andrew, were siblings. This in turn made Kenneth and Ed first cousins, 1x removed.
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| IMAGE: Kenneth G. Brakke (1920-1941), age about 19. From the family photograph collection of Edwin J. Ostrom. |
Kenneth did all the normal things a kid would do while growing up in Seattle. His father was a street conductor for the city and his mother stayed home to care for Kenneth and his three siblings; his older sisters, Alice and Ruth and younger brother, Arnold. When Kenneth entered high school, the Brakkes were living in the Wallingford district, a neighborhood in north central Seattle. Here he attended Lincoln High School and graduated with the class of 1939.
After graduation, Kenneth found it difficult to stay grounded. Perhaps he tried various small jobs that didn't work out or maybe he just hung out with his friends. It doesn't really matter as that is not part of today's story. What is an important part is that with encouragement from his parents, Kenneth decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy. On 05 November 1940, Kenneth said "Goodbye," to his family and started off to naval basic training.[1]
When basic training was complete he was sent to catch up with his shipmates. The date he was first received on a ship was 11 January 1941. The name of his duty ship was the USS Arizona (BB-39). [2] While on the Arizona, he would earn the rank of Fireman Third Class (F3c).
That brings us to the morning of 7 December 1941, just eleven months later. Kenneth and many of his shipmates were on board ship that Sunday when Pearl Harbor was attacked. On this day 1177 crew and officers lost their lives.
"At 0810, fifteen minutes into the attack, an 1800-pound armor piercing bomb struck the Arizona between its #2 gun turret and bow, creating a 100-foot wide gap penetrating the deck and exploding in a fuel storage tank. A fire flared for 7 seconds then traveled through the open hatches to the forward magazine where it touched off 1.7 million pounds of explosives. A fountain of flame and black smoke shot skyward. The Arizona jumped from the water. Its foremast pitched forward, and its deck opened like a flower...flaming body and body parts were blown skyward. Naked sailors, limbs and letters home landed on nearby ships...."[3]
Family files do not tell how Kenneth's parents learned of their loss. At the time it was common practice to get news from the military through a telegram. However they heard officially, I suspect that they had already come to learn of their loss through the media coverage. Sometime later the family was given a purple heart that Kenneth had earned posthumously. What the files do contain is a transcribed article from a Seattle paper.
"Seattle Youth, Navy Fireman, Lost in Hawaii -- The Navy Department yesterday notified Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Brakke 5528 that their son, Kenneth, 21 years old, has been missing since the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7. Young Brakke, fireman, third class, had been in the Navy one year. He was graduated from Lincoln High School two and one half years ago. Other relatives of Brakke living in Seattle are Mrs. Warren A. Priem, 12045 First Ave. N. W., a sister, and Arnold Brakke 15 years old, who lives with his parents. Another sister Mrs. Carroll Greenleaf, lives in Edmonds." -- Source: The Seattle Daily Times, Seattle, Washington, 22 December 1941, pg 7.
I was saddened when I learned that Ed's family had lost a relative on the USS Arizona that day. So many young were lives lost while serving their country. Cousin Ed was able to have two of Kenneth's first cousins share their experience when thinking about Kenneth and Pearl Harbor.
In a 2000 audio-taped conversation with Harvey W. Roberts (1911-2005):
"We were walking there that day when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Andrew Brakke's son Kenneth, was getting a little bit wild in Seattle. So his parents had him join the Navy. He was stationed on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.
So when we got home uncle Andrew's other son Arnie was goin' on, "He was on that, he was on that! Arnie was going on like that. Yah, he was on it. They had a letter from him [Kenneth]. It was mailed before he had KP that day. He was sleeping on that ship in the morning when the Japanese attacked. He didn't have a chance. He was entombed in that ship. I saw his name listed on the memorial above the sunken ship. Every part of that ship above the waterline was a mangled mess and was removed after the war."
In a 2002 audio-taped conversation with Ione Peterson Schooler (1920-2005):
"After I came out west I went up and lived with my uncle Andrew [Brakke] in Seattle. Kenneth, his son, was more or less my age so I went with him. I knew him very well. We went out a lot Ken and I. When Pearl Harbor was bombed I was out at Auntie [Anna] Ostrom's house in Woodburn, OR. I didn't know where Pearl Harbor was at that time. I remember I was sitting on the floor listening to the radio and that's when they announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. I guess I didn't realize then that Kenneth was on this particular ship, the Arizona. Kenneth was down in the lower part of the ship. I don't even think they found his dog tags. That was such a bombing. They said it went straight down into the middle of the ship and blew everything apart. It as a bad day for Uncle Andrew and Auntie Inga."
Now and then a member of the family has the opportunity to visit one of the two memorials in Hawaii where Kenneth G. Brakke is honored. One of the memorials is part of a cenotaph that makes up the "Courts of the Missing : World War II," at the Honolulu Memorial. This white marble wall of names is engraved with "Brakke Kenneth Gay | Fireman 3C | USN | Washington." The Honolulu Memorial is located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in an extinct volcano, known locally as "The Punchbowl" and is located near the center of Honolulu. [4]
The second and most known memorial is the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor's South Channel near the shore of Ford Island. This memorial is operated by the National Park Service and is accessible only by a U.S. Navy boat. This memorial straddles the sunken hull of the Arizona without touching it and the names of those who died that day are engraved on white marble wall within the white enclosure. Kenneth's name shows as, "K. G. Brakke | F3c." Nearby there is also a small pacque that contains the names of the crewman who survived that day. If desired the ashes of the survivors can and have been interred within the wreck by U.S. Navy divers. This is done by special celebration and one of those celebrations is happening during this 75th anniversary.
This past summer one of Kenneth's "cousins" went to the USS Arizona Memorial to pay her respects. Lauren Hoy and her father David took the day to visit the memorial while in Honolulu . Lauren and Kenneth are 1st cousins 3x removed. I am so pleased that Lauren shared these photographs of their visit that day. With these we all can see the memorial.
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| Image: On approach to the memorial is the mooring pad for the USS Nevada (BB-36). |
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| IMAGE: The USS Arizona Memorial and that ship's mooring pad. |
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| IMAGE: USS Arizona, a barbette of one of the main gun turrets shows above the surface of the water. |
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| IMAGE: Lauren Hoy standing next to cousin, K.G. Brakke's name on the USS Arizona Memorial. The Brakke name is on the second list, just above Lauren's shoulder.. |
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| IMAGE: A close-up showing the name of K.G. Brakke F3c on the engraved marble wall. |
Sources:
1.) "U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 December 2016), Kenneth C. Brakke aboard the Arizona (BB-39), 30 September 1941.
2.) ibid.
3.) Thurston Clarke, "Pearl Harbor Ghosts," (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1991). Taken from Edwin J.Ostrom's notes in family file.
4.) "Find A Grave: Honolulu Memorial," Findagrave.com. (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed December 6 2016.) Cemetery Lookup: Honolulu Memorial.
To the brave people who died aboard the USS Arizona and elsewhere in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, we celebrate your memory. To those who have fought and stand ready to keep us safe today, we thank you.
Thank you again to Lauren and her dad David Hoy for sharing their photographs. It was a real win-win that you were going to be in Pearl Harbor and were able to make the visit to the memorial just at the right time to include them in this article about Kenneth Brakke during the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
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Copyright (c) 2016, Darlene M. Steffens
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