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Robert Joyce (SBTS Writer), AT2
to remember
Breedlove, Jack Asbury, FC3c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town El Reno
Last Address USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor
Casualty Date Dec 07, 1941
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (VA) - Honolulu, Hawaii
Petty Officer Third Class Jack Breedlove was Killed in Action on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma BB37.
May 23, 2022 WASHINGTON—The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class Jack A. Breedlove, 19, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 1, 2021. On Dec. 7, 1941, Breedlove was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Breedlove. From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries. In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Breedlove.
Breedlove’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. Breedlove will be buried on May 31, 2022, at the Punchbowl
Comments/Citation:
Jack Ashbury Breedlove – KIA on Battleship Oklahoma 7 Dec 1941
Jack Breedlove Was a WWII Hero That Helped Preserve Our Freedom
Jack Breedlove was born in El Reno, Oklahoma on December 20, 1921. According to the 1930 U.S. Census, Jack’s father, Jesse, 43, was a pipefitter in a railroad shop. His mother, Ethyle, 34, had three children living at home at this time; Frances, 16, Raymond, 10 and Jack 8 years old. They lived at 1607 Greene Avenue in Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa.
Breedlove enlisted in the Navy on December 27, 1939. After basic training, he mustered aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on March 24, 1940.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the 7 December 1941 attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being moored at berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row.” Just before 8 am, the Oklahoma was among the first of the ships struck in the attack. A torpedo struck on her port side and she capsized quickly. After the Arizona, she was the largest loss of life, at 429 sailors and marines. The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap and while under tow to California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.
Petty Officer Third Class Jack Breedlove was Killed in Action on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were never Identified but is listed as one of the approximately 390 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
The USS OKLAHOMA Memorial was dedicated 7 December 2007 on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The memorial stands on the shores of Ford Island, next to the former berth of the Oklahoma. Today the USS Missouri Museum is moored where the Oklahoma was moored when she was sunk. The memorial's black granite walls suggest the once formidable hull of the Oklahoma.
Jack Breedlove is memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu. He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.
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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see 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 Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.
