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 Mitchell, IA
Last Address Mitchell, IA
Casualty Date Dec 07, 1941
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Sacred Heart Cemetery - Osage, Iowa
Military Service Number 3 214 207
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Navy Seaman 1st Class Leon Arickx, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, has now been accounted for on Feb 2, 2018.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Arickx was assigned to the 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 Arickx.
In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu..
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Arickx's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Seaman First Class Leon P. Arickx KIA USS Oklahoma
Leon Paul Arickx was born on December 28, 1918 in New London, Kandiyohi county, Minnesota. His family had been living in Austin, Mower County, Minnesota, and they moved to Mitchell County, Minnesota soon after he was born. They were a family of farmers. His parents, Charles Louis Arickx and Erma Marie Vergate, had been born in Belgium. He was one of the 3 sons in his family. They also had 5 daughters, one who had died in childbirth.
In a scrapbook, a family member said, "He worked hard and his high spirit and ready smile let you know he loved to play hard, too. He loved to dance and spent many nights in the ballrooms around Austin, Minnesota." His niece, Mary Galey, said he was a jokester, who loved to tease all his family members. He joined the US Navy on May 7, 1940.
He had enlisted in the Navy. Served during World War II. He had the rank of Enlisted and was a Seaman First Class. His Service number was 3214207 and he served aboard the USS Oklahoma.
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. 9 torpedoes hit the Oklahoma, each on her port side, because of her position in the harbor. The torpedoes struck higher on the port side as she capsized. Heroic efforts were made to rescue the trapped men inside the hull. After 3 days, 32 men were rescued. 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.
Arickx was reported missing and ultimately declared dead on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On January 30, 2018 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced his remains had been identified through DNA and other forensic analysis. On 07 July 2018, S1c Leon Paul Arickx was buried with full military honors in Sacred Heart Cemetery located in Osage, Mitchell County, Iowa. He is also memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
******** 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 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 below.
marykake47286 - Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars
