White, Claude, CPO

Claude White was born January 2, 1901 in Tennessee, the youngest child of Benjamin Thomas and Susan V. (Trosper) White. The family lived in Gibson county, Tennessee, where his father was engaged in farming. Claude had six brothers and two sisters. His father died in 1916 and his mother died in 1938.
 
Muster rolls indicate he reported aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on April 1, 1931. He reenlisted March 1, 1938, as a Chief Water Tender.
 
The Oklahoma, as part of the Pacific fleet, was home ported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On Sunday, 7 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma was moored at Ford Island in berth Fox 5, on Battleship Row, in the outboard position alongside the battleship USS Maryland. She was immediately targeted by planes from the Imperial Japanese Navy's aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, and was struck by three torpedoes. The first and second hit seconds apart at 0756 (7:56 am), striking her amidships (midway between bow and stern) below the waterline between the smokestack and the mainmast. The torpedoes blew away a large section of her anti-torpedo bulge and spilled oil from the adjacent fuel bunkers, but neither penetrated the hull. Around 80 men scrambled to man the AA guns on deck, but were unable to use them because the firing locks were still in the armory. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship's waterline or sought shelter in the third deck as was protocol for an aerial attack. The third torpedo struck at 0800 (8am), near Frame 65, hitting close to where the first two did, this time penetrating the hull. It destroyed the adjacent fuel bunkers on the second platform deck and ruptured access trunks to the two forward boiler rooms. It also damaged the transverse bulkhead to the aft boiler room and the longitudinal bulkhead of the two forward firing rooms causing her to flood and to list to port.
 
As she began to capsize, two more torpedoes struck her. Her seamen were also being strafed by Japanese aircraft as they were trying to abandon the ship. In less than twelve minutes, she rolled over until halted when her masts touched bottom, her starboard side above water with part of her keel exposed. It's believed the ship absorbed as many as eight hits in all. Many of her crew were jumping from the decks 50 feet into the oil covered burning hot water, however, many remained in the fight, crawling across mooring lines to the Maryland to help man her AA guns. Many others were trapped within the capsized hull to include Claude.
 
In all, 429 men were listed as missing in action/unknowns since their remains could not be identified and interred in two cemeteries (Nu'uanu and Halawa) on Oahu near Honolulu in 1945 & 46. Claude was listed as Missing in Action on 30 December 1941. His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and in the Oklahoma Memorial, both in Hawaii.
 
In September 1947, they were disinterred, reexamined and 35 were identified. The estimated remaining 388-394 were reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punch Bowl at 46 sites (graves) in 61 caskets and basically forgotten. In 2015, all were again disinterred to have dental records reexamined and DNA tests conducted on all the bones.
 
On June 15, 2021 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Navy Chief Water Tender Claude White, 40, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Jan. 4, 2021.
 
Reference:
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=112830
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89872038/claude-white
1910; Census Place: Civil District 8, Gibson, Tennessee; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0047;
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency; Washington DC; Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A, 1941-197
 
SN: 2948177
 
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 saved 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's name and read his/her story.