JACKSON; WILLIE
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
CA
Individual Type Unaccounted For Missing In Action
Rank OC1
Service Number 1541609
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

On December 7, 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base and ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That day, the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was struck by multiple torpedoes within minutes and capsized. The captain of the Oklahoma ordered the crew to abandon ship over the starboard side. Those who escaped swam to the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46), or manned smaller boats and helped pull the wounded out of the water. Rescuers saved thirty-two sailors by cutting holes into the Oklahoma’s side, but more than four-hundred fifty sailors and Marines aboard the Oklahoma perished in the attack.

Chief Warrant Officer Willie Jackson, who joined the U.S. Navy in California, was serving aboard the Oklahoma at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and was among those lost with the ship. His remains could not be identified following the incident and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Chief Warrant Officer Jackson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

Jackson, Willie; Bayou Lafourche, Lousiana