U.S.S. Arizona Facts

Left to Right Kneeling:

Pedrotti, Francis J. PVT St. Louis, MO K.I.A.

Erskine, Robert C. PFC Chicago, IL K.I.A.

Dunnam, Robert W. PVT Houston, TX K.I.A.

Fleetwood, Donald E. PFC Fort Dodge, Iowa K.I.A.

Bartlett, David W. CCRP Palmdale, CA K.I.A.

McCurdy, Russell J. PVT Huntington, IN Retired

The Men of the U.S.S. Whale Boat Team

Left to Right Standing:

Griffin, Lawrence J. P.F.C. Westwego, LA K.I.A.

Dreesbach, Herbert A. P.F.C. Chicago, IL K.I.A.

Hughes, Marvin A. PVT Houston, TX K.I.A.

Baker, John McRay Sgt. Nebraska Died 6/74

Brickley, Eugene PVT Uniondale, IN K.I.A.

Shive, Gordon E. P.F.C. Laguna Beach, CA K.I.A.

Bond, Burnis L. CCRP Wiggins, Miss. K.I.A.

"During the summer of 1941 the Marine detachment engaged in the Whale Boat competition with the Pacific Fleet" by Russell J. MCCurdy USMC Ret.

We raced against other Marine detachments and won. We pulled against all the divisions of our ship and won.
In getting ready for the Fleet Championship run off the Arizona had to field a team.

     The ship Capt. Van Valkenburgh thought the best men from each Div. should make up the team.
     Major Alan Shapley, our detachment Commander, had been a competitor at the Naval Academy (class of 1927) in football, basketball and track. In 1926 he quarterbacked the Navy eleven that won the National Championship. They went on to play the Un. of Washington in the Rose Bowl. He also was the manager and first baseman on the USS Arizona's baseball team.
     With this background in competitive sports and his judgement of our Marine Whale Boat Team, he thought all of his Whale Boat Marines were #1. He suggested to the Capt. that a two or three run off of Marines against the best Navy men would tell the story. The Marines won all the play off races and became the Arizona team in the fall fleet races. We finished runner-up having lost by two feet to the Fleet Champions from the USS Penn. I was a part of that team.
     On Dec. 7, 1941, the only survivors of that team were Sgt. John Baker and Pvt. Russell McCurdy. Only 13 of the 87 Marine Detachment survived the Pearl Harbor attack.
     Today, (1987) five Marines remain. Shapley died in 1973. Baker died in 1974. After Pearl Harbor, my first meeting with Major Shapley was in 1945 on Okinawa when I was with the 1st Marine Div. and he was a Co. of the 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Div. We kept in touch thereafter. Shapley retired as a Lt. Gen. in 1962.
     My first meeting with Baker was on a small island off Guadacanal in 1944. We were in the 1st Marine. Div. he then was a Capt. and I was a Lt. We lost touch and my next contact with him was when I wrote him in April 1974. I had written him about an article he placed in the PH Gram, April 1974, p. 19 showing the 1941 Arizona Whale Boat Team. He thought I had been killed on Peleliu so I informed him I was very much alive. In the meantime, Baker had been informed by Dave Briner of my current address and Baker wrote me in th April 74 setting the record straight. Our letters crossed in the mail and he died in June 1974 before my letter was answered. Baker was the Coxswain of our Whale Boat team. I still maintain contact with Marines Earl Nightingale, Crawford, Cabiness and Navy men Russ Lott, Jim Green, Jim Vlach, John Anderson, and Richard Hauff. Shapley and Baker were PHSA members most of the above men are also members, and most have each met 10 years back at Pearl Harbor since 1966.
     Richard Hauff and Earl Nightingale died in 1989.