Search Results

A group of soldiers gather around coastal artillery during a defense campaign. Photograph taken from a U.S.S. West Virginia scrapbook.

19. American Soldiers Shore Battery at Night in Hawaii

American president Franklin D. Roosevelt inspected the Pacific Fleet, including the U.S.S. West Virginia.

20. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Boards Cruiser Houston, San Francisco Bay, CA

American military work with coastal artillery during a defense campaign. Photograph comes from a U.S.S. West Virginia scrapbook.

21. Shore Battery in Hawaii

Captain Bennion was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. As  he laid mortally wounded on the West Virginia's command bridge, Bennion refused to be removed from his burning ship. He continued to give orders, directing his crew's actions. Bennion's last order to his men before he died was to leave him and "abandon ship." Captain Bennion was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

22. USN Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, U.S.S. West Virginia

L to R: Jack Miller, Frank Kosa, Clifford Olds.Olds and 2 other crew members , Ronald Endicott and Louis Costin were trapped in a sealed compartment in the West Virginia's bow after it sank on December 7th.  Any rescue attempt meant certain death. The 3 stayed alive until December 24th according to a marked calendar found with their bodies which were recovered after the ship was raised from the harbor bottom in May, 1942.

23. U.S.S. West Virginia Sailors Hoist Their Glasses at Monkey Bar, Pearl Harbor, HI