If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Casualty Info
Home Town Trenton, TN
Last Address Steele, MO
Casualty Date Dec 07, 1941
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment USS ARIZONA (BB-39) - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Entombed in the Hull of the Arizona
Fireman First Class J.T. Allison, United States Navy, Service Number: 2955343
Early Life
J.T. Allison was born on 26 December 1920 in Hardin County, Tennessee (although some records list his birth location as Holland, Pemiscot County, Missouri). His father, Arthur Leroy Allison, born 21 September 1881 in Hardin County, Tennessee, died 2 December 1968 in Dyer, Gibson County, Tennessee, was a farmer. His mother, Icy D. Bain, was born on 1 February 1888 in Tennessee and died on 2 November 1972 in Dyer, Gibson County, Tennessee. Andrew's parents were married on 26 February 1908 in Hardin County, Tennessee. J.T. was the third of four children in the family; he had two older brothers and a younger sister. His older brother, Andrew Allison, was also Killed in Action aboard the USS Arizona.
Military
J.T. Allison enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Missouri. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was ultimately assigned to the USS Arizona (BB-39) which was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
At the onset of the December 7, 1941 attack, the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) was moored at berth Fox 7 on “Battleship Row.” The repair ship Vestal (AR-4) was on the port side; and the starboard side faced the northeastern shore of Ford Island. Just before 8 am, the ship’s air raid alarm sounded and the crew was ordered to general quarters. During the attack the battleship was struck by as many as eight aerial bombs, including one 1,700 lb. armor-piercing shell which penetrated the deck near the Number 2 turret and detonated in the smokeless powder magazine, causing a “cataclysmic” explosion “which destroyed the ship forward” and ignited a fire which burned for two days. Most of the Arizona crewmen who perished in the attack died instantly during the explosion. The ship quickly sank to the bottom of the harbor along with 1,177 of the 1,512 personnel on board, representing about half the total number of Americans killed that day.
Death and Burial
J.T. Allison was declared Missing in Action, Lost At Sea, Non Recoverable (Killed in Action) on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Arizona during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii.
This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen person's name and read his/her story.
If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please email me by clicking on my name. CDR Robert "Red" Mulvanny-Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars
