United States. A Pearl Harbor Purple Heart Group To Uss Oklahoma Chief Pharmacist's Mate

 

Footnote: James Thomas Cheshire was born on May 24, 1901 in New Hope, Nelson County, Kentucky, the son of James Thomas Cheshire, Sr. and Margaret Adeline Cheshire. He had an 8th Grade Parochial School education and had been employed as a Machinist's Helper for two years with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Shops, when he enlisted as a Hospital Apprentice Second Class (02866681) with the United States Navy, at the United States Navy Recruiting Station in Louisville, Kentucky on May 28, 1919, stating that he had no previous military service, that his religion was Catholic and that his trade was that of Machinist. Four and a half months after enlisting, Cheshire was posted to the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois on October 10, 1919. He was transferred to the United States Naval Hospital at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1919 and posted to the United States Naval Hospital at League Island Park, Philadelphia on March 31, 1920, where he served as a Hospital Apprentice First Class, before being rated Pharmacist's Mate Third Class on January 1, 1921. Three months later, he was transferred to the hospital ship USS Relief (AH-1) on March 31, 1921, then posted to the United States Naval Hospital at Washington, D.C. on September 30, 1922. Cheshire was transferred to the station ship USS Reina Mercedes (IX-25) at Annapolis, Maryland on August 22, 1923, rated as a Pharmacist's Mate Second Class and re-enlisted for four years' additional service. Two months later, he was rated as a Pharmacist's Mate First Class on October 20th. He was transferred to the ammunition ship USS Nitro (AE-23) for further transfer to the hospital ship USS Relief (AH-1) at San Pedro, California on November 13, 1925. Pharmacist's Mate First Class Cheshire received the Navy Good Conduct Medal on August 21, 1927. He was transferred to the United States Naval Yard in Washington, D.C. and posted to the United States Naval Medical School, from August 22 to September 14, 1929, rated as a Chief Pharmacist's Mate (AA). He followed his time in Washington with a transfer to the Receiving Barracks at Hampton Roads, Virginia on September 15, 1929, posted to the transport ship USS Henderson (AP-1) on the 17th, and would remain there for four months, until being transferred back to the hospital ship USS Relief on October 13th. His service with USS Relief would entail nineteen months, his rating changing from Chief Pharmacist's Mate (AA) to Chief Pharmacist's Mate (PA) during this time. Chief Pharmacist's Mate Cheshire was transferred to the United States Naval Hospital at Puget Sound, Washington on April 27, 1931, where he would serve as a Laboratory Technician for a little over one year, until May 5, 1932.

 

He was transferred to the United States Naval Medical School at Washington, D.C. on June 2, 1932, where he would serve as an Electrocardiograph Technician for the next sixteen months, before returning to USS Relief on October 10, 1933. Chief Pharmacist's Mate Cheshire was posted to the United States Naval Hospital in San Diego, California on April 20, 1936, for a period of almost three years, before being transferred to the Fleet Marine Force at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California on March 6, 1939. He is documented as having participated in minor landing exercises at San Clemente Island from April 17 to May 5, 1939 and posted to the Second Marine Brigade as of July 5, 1939. Chief Pharmacist's Mate Cheshire was transferred to the Antares-class cargo ship USS Antares (AG-10/AKS-3) for further transfer to the Nevada-class battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on September 6, 1939. The USS Oklahoma was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy in 1910, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts. Commissioned in 1916, USS Oklahoma served during the First World War as a member of Battleship Division 6, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. USS Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West coast in August of the same year, USS Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific. Cheshire requested that he remain with the USS Oklahoma until the expiration of his current enlistment on May 21, 1940. He was Honorably Discharged on August 21, 1940 at Bremerton, Washington due to the expiration of his enlistment and was recommended for re-enlistment, along with being recommended for the 1940 clasp to the Navy Good Conduct Medal. His waiver of transportation was canceled due to Cheshire re-enlisting for four years' additional service on August 21st and as of August 22nd, he agreed not to apply for transfer to the Fleet Reserve for at least two years. USS Oklahoma was moored in berth Fox 5, in Battleship Row, on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, berthed outboard alongside the Colorado-class battleship USS Maryland (BB-46). She was almost immediately targeted by aircraft from Akagi and Kaga, striking her with three torpedoes. The first and second hit seconds apart, striking amidships at approximately 0756, 20 feet below the waterline between the smokestack and mainmast. They blew away a big section of her anti-torpedo bulge and spilled oil from the adjacent fuel bunkers' sounding tubes, but neither penetrated the hull. About 80 men scrambled to man the anti-aircraft guns on deck, but were unable to use them because the firing locks were in the armory. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship's waterline or sought shelter in the third deck, protocol during an aerial attack. The third torpedo struck at 0800, near Frame 65, hitting close to where the first two did, penetrating the hull, destroying the adjacent fuel bunkers on the second platform deck and rupturing access trunks to the two forward boiler rooms as well as the transverse bulkhead to the aft boiler room and the longitudinal bulkhead of the two forward firing rooms. As she began to capsize to port, two more torpedoes struck, and her men were strafed as they abandoned ship. In less than twelve minutes, she rolled over until halted by her masts touching bottom, her starboard side above water, and a part of her keel exposed. It's believed the ship absorbed as many as eight hits in all. Survivors jumped off the ship fifty feet into burning hot water or crawled across mooring lines that connected USS Oklahoma and USS Maryland, clambering aboard the latter to help serve her anti-aircraft batteries. In all, 429 of her officers and enlisted men were killed or missing. Thirty-two others were wounded, and many were trapped within the capsized hull. Efforts to rescue them began within minutes of the ship's capsizing and continued into the night, in several cases rescuing men trapped inside the ship for hours. Some sailors inside the ship escaped when rescuers drilled holes and opened hatches to rescue them.

 

Chief Pharmacist's Mate James Thomas Cheshire, United States Navy was Killed in Action while aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma during the attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941. The evidence of his death was received at the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. on January 24, 1942. In a telegram from the U.S. Navy to his wife, Marion, dated January 30, 1942, the Navy informed his wife, that after an exhaustive search, it was found to be impossible to locate her husband and that as a result, he was declared to have lost his life while in the performance of his duty. He wife, Marion Cheshire of San Diego, California, was left a widow with two children, Margaret Mary Cheshire  and James T. Cheshire III. Chief Pharmacist's Mate Cheshire is remembered with honor on the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star and the World War II Victory Medal. In 1943, USS Oklahoma was righted and salvaged, his personal effects of many sailors recovered. Unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, USS Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. Her wreck was eventually stripped of her remaining armament and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in a storm in 1947, while being towed from Oahu, Hawaii, to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay.