Blackburn, John Thomas, F1c

This Military Service Page was originated by Felix Cervantes, III (Admiral Ese), BM2

Fireman/1c John T. Blackburn was Killed in Action on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  He was stationed aboard the USS Utah AG-16.

John Thomas “Jack” Blackburn was born 7 January 1920 in Columbus, Ohio to Thomas Clyde and Jessie Eylor (Rose) Blackburn. He had one brother and one sister; he was the youngest child. His father was a railroad brakeman. Jack enlisted in the Navy on 6 October 1939 and was aboard the USS Utah by December of that year as a Fireman First Class.

Shortly after 8 am on 7 December 1941, a torpedo struck the port side of the USS Utah (AG-16) while moored at Berth FOX-11 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Utah, a former battleship, had been converted to a target ship to train gunners on various anti-aircraft guns.

Just before the first torpedo hit, the crew on board the USS Utah had sighted incoming aircraft and presumed them to be the American planes expected for training exercises. When the crew realized they were enemy aircraft, orders were given for all personnel to move to bombing quarters. The first torpedo strike caused serious flooding and the ship began to list to port. When a second torpedo hit in the same area, the list grew more severe. Then the ship’s officers ordered all personnel to the starboard side, awaiting imminent capsize. Those who made it to the upper decks abandoned ship under orders and had to deal with aerial bombardment from aircraft. At 8:12 am, the USS Utah had completely capsized as personnel swam to Ford Island. When it was all over, 58 of the USS Utah’s crew lost their lives and 461 survived.

F1c John Thomas Blackburn (Service Number 3812894) is listed as Missing as Action and remains unaccounted for. He is memorialized by a cenotaph on his parent’s grave marker at the Otterbein Cemetery in Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio. F1c Blackburn is also memorialized at the USS Utah Memorial in Pearl Harbor and his name is inscribed on a wall within the Courts of the Missing in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received a Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WW II Victory Medal for his service.
 
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177382781/john-thomas-blackburn
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6466339/john-thomas-blackburn
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56115553/john-thomas-blackburn
Ancestry.com;
HonorStates
https://www.ussutah1941.org/
https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/battleship-row.htm


********
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.

Lee Braswell - Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars

If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please click here to email TWS directly.

SBTSProject/Ohio/Franklin