In my reading and research of the attack on Pearl Harbor, one story in particular hit me the hardest, I guess because I am a mom. It is the story of a baby girl, her name was Nancy Wagner and her dad was Chief Yeoman Albert Wagner and in December 1941 stationed on board the USS Utah BB -31 she was used as a aircraft training vessel and was moored at the Far Side of Ford Island.
Nancy was a twin, and while her twin sister Mary survived, little Nancy died right after her birth. Her father Chief Wagner, had the babies ashes in a small urn in his locker.
He had planned to scatter them when the Utah put out to sea....
Then, its the morning of Dec. 7th. The Utah crew was at Colors when she was hit by three Japanese torpedos, she was a vulnerable target, her mooring lines snapped and she capsized. Wagner tried to reach his battle station, but due to the heavy listing of the ship was unable to do do. To save himself he had to jump into the water and swim to Ford Island, and watch the rest of the tragedy unfold.Within 14 minutes of being hit, the Utah rolled over, men trapped inside could be heard banging, hoping rescuers would come. 10 men. were rescued from her hull. 64 crew members perished that day on board the Utah. They could only remove 4 of the bodies and they were interred on shore.
Chief Wagner made it through the war and left the navy in 1952. He passed away in 1975 and was buried at sea off the coast of San Diego this was prior to the Utah survivors being allowed to have their ashes interned at the Utah memorial site. His surviving daughter, Mary would later described him as an old battleship sailor.
Mary, little Nancy's twin sister was the public relations director for the USS Utah. In 2003 at the 62nd memorial ceremony, She was finally able to give her twin sister the funeral that she had so much deserved.
She said that day :
"For sixty-two years, the courageous crew of USS Utah has watched over a tiny secret copper urn hidden in my father's watery locker," I am so grateful that my little twin sister Nancy Lynne has finally received God's blessing in the presence of men and women of the United States Navy. Our tears are tears of joy, not sadness. One day I hope to join Nancy Lynne aboard our beloved ship."
The Utah sits there on the far side of Ford Island she is but a footnote in the Pearl Harbor attack, one of the forgotten ships.She is the resting place for 60 men, cremains of shipmates that wish to join them....and one baby girls urn, in her daddies locker.
"You joined the Navy to make sure the country is free,. "The flag, your uniform, come before anything else -- without them you don't have a family." --- Chief Albert Wagner
