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First Name: Leo
Last Name: Blitz
Birthplace: Lincoln, NE, USA
Gender: Male
Branch: Navy (present)
Rating: Machinist's Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class
Home of Record: Lincoln, NE |
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Date of Birth: 09 April 1921
Date of Death: 07 December 1941
Rank or Rate: Petty Officer Second Class
Years Served: 1938 - 1941 |
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Navy Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Leo Blitz, and Navy Fireman 1st Class Rudolph Blitz, both 20, of Lincoln, Nebraska, died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 after the battleship Oklahoma capsized at Ford Island. Both were 20 and were assigned to the battleship Oklahoma when the warship and other vessels were attacked by Japanese planes. The attack on the ship killed 429 crewmen, including the Blitzes. In Summer of 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said the remains of twin brothers killed in the Pearl Harbor attack have been identified and will be returned to their home state of Nebraska.
Oklahoma was moored in berth Foxtrot 5 in Battleship Row on 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked. Outboard alongside Maryland, Oklahoma took three torpedo hits almost immediately after the first Japanese bombs fell. As she began to capsize to port, two more torpedoes struck home, 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.
Many of her crew, however, remained in the fight, clambering aboard Maryland to help serve her anti-aircraft batteries. 429 of her officers and enlisted men were killed or missing. Thirty-two others were wounded, and many were trapped within the capsized hull. Julio DeCastro, a Hawaiian civilian yard worker, organized a team that saved 32 Oklahoma sailors. There Bodies were retrieved from the wreckage and attempt to Identify them. Those not Identified were buried in unmarked graves at Honolulu Memorial (punch bowl).
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