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On December 7, 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base and ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the attack, the USS Arizona (BB-39) was struck by eight armor-piercing bombs. One penetrated the Arizona's deck near its No. 2 turret, causing a large explosion that destroyed the forward half of the ship and started a fire that burned for two days. It is thought that most of the Arizona’s crew members died instantly during the explosion. More than 1,100 sailors and Marines were lost along with the ship.
Machinist's Mate First Class James M. Robertson, who joined the U.S. Navy from Tennessee, was aboard the Arizona on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack and was among the men lost with the ship. His remains were not recovered. Today, Machinist's Mate First Class Robertson is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
James Milton Robertson “was noted for his sunny disposition and friendly nature, making friends of all who knew him,” the Daily Gazette and Mail of Morristown, Tennessee, wrote after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Mr. Robertson was a machinist’s mate first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed on Dec. 7, 1941.
He was born Aug. 24, 1918, in Hamblen County in northeast Tennessee. His father, Rufus, was a farmer and his mother, Lennie, a homemaker. She died when the boy -- the youngest of seven children -- was nine. An older sister, Kate, helped raise him.
Mr. Robertson worked at Interwoven Knitting Mills in Morristown before he enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 26, 1937. He was a member of Holston Chapel Methodist Church.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5266 in Morristown is named in his honor.
Six months after his death, the local newspaper reported on what it called “an excellent example of loyalty.” His father received a check for a life insurance policy taken out by his son. “He immediately came into town and invested the entire amount in War Bonds,” the paper said. The government sold war bonds to help finance military operations in World War II.
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SBTSProject/Tennessee/Hamblen
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