Comments/Citation:
Shipfitter Third Class (SF3c) Benjamin Ernest Bargerhuff Jr., United States Navy. Service Number: 2915276
Early Life
Benjamin Ernest Bargerhuff Jr. was born on 26 September 1917 in Loree, Clay Township, Miami County, Indiana. His father, Benjamin F. Bargerhuff, born 22 May 1887 in Indiana, died 20 August 1941 in Miami County, Indiana, and was a farmer. His mother, Jennie A. Filiberti, was born on 18 January 1893 in South Carolina and died on 3 May 1984 in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. Benjamin’s parents were married in 1913. Benjamin was the third of five children in the family; he had two older sisters and two younger brothers. His father had been previously married on 22 June 1907 to Sadie Belle Kling (1885-1908). They had a daughter, Benjamin Jr’s half-sister.
Military
Benjamin Ernest Bargerhuff Jr. enlisted in the Navy on 30 November 1937 in Indianapolis, Indiana. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to the Battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48), which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attack occurred. He reported aboard West Virginia on 2 April 1938.
On the morning of 7 December, 1941, two bombs hit the battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48) and at least 7 torpedoes, which blew two immense holes in her port side. She did not capsize but sank to the harbor bottom. When the attack was over, 106 of her crew were killed. She was salvaged, repaired, and returned to active service in July 1944.
Death and Burial
Benjamin Ernest Bargerhuff Jr. was Killed in Action on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS West Virginia during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and was buried at the Rankin Cemetery in Bunker Hill, Miami County, Indiana.
His obituary in the local newspaper follows:
Kokomo Tribune, Kokomo, Howard, Indiana, Wednesday, July 13, 1949, page 8. "Rites for Pearl Harbor Victim"
Funeral services for Shipfitter 3c Benjamin Ernest Bargerhuff, 24, of Miami, the first reported Miami county casualty for World War II and one of two Miami county Navy men killed at Pearl Harbor, will be conducted in Miami Methodist church Sunday. The body was scheduled to arrive in Peru Friday afternoon and to be taken to the Eikenberry funeral home.
The deceased was a son of Mrs. Jennie Bargerhuff, of Miami. He was a member of the crew of the ill-fated West Virginia at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. A fellow crewman was Richard Fuqua, of Peru, and both were reported missing in action. Memorial services for both were conducted around the World War I memorial monument on the court house lawn shortly after the report was made, but Fuqua, not even injured, was learned to be alive when his mother, Mrs. S. F. Fuqua, received a letter from him. Bargerhuff was not officially declared dead until about a year ago, when his grave was discovered on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.
The services at Miami Sunday are scheduled to start at 3 p.m. The Rev. Roy Reece, pastor of Oakdale Baptist church and chaplain of Glen Owens Post No. 14, American Legion, will officiate. Interment will be in Rankin cemetery, south of Peru, with full military ceremonies in charge of the American Legion. The body will be taken to the church at 1 o'clock Sunday afternoon.
Bargerhuff had served four years in the Navy and was awaiting discharge at Pearl Harbor. He was born at Loree on September 16, 1917, a son of Benjamin F. Bargerhuff, who died also in 1941. Survivors include the mother and the following brothers and sisters: James Bargerhuff and Mrs. Ralph Hicks, both of Miami; Mary Randall, of Indianapolis; Mrs. Ancil Clymer, of Bunker Hill, and Marion L. Bargerhuff, of the U.S. Navy, stationed in Philadelphia.
Sources
https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor-raid/battleship-row-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack/uss-west-virginia-and-uss-tennessee-during-the-pearl-harbor-atta.html
https://www.fold3.com/memorial/636582178/benjamin-bargerhuff-jr
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15142544/benjamin-ernest-bargerhuff
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=587358
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88052129/the-indianapolis-news/
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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 on 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.
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