Harvey Christopher Herber was born on November 21, 1907 in Tacoma, Washington
to George and Rachel Herber. George Herber had moved to Washington from
Wisconsin; Rachel’s family (the Lunds) had emigrated from Norway to Washington.
George was a Steamfitter. He married Rachel in 1897 and they had six sons. Harvey
was the youngest. William was the oldest, and he was the grandfather of Jerry
Johnson, who represents Harvey’s family at our service.
Harvey enlisted in the Navy in 1929 at age 21. He attended boot camp then specialty
training as an Electrician’s Mate, or EM in Navy enlisted terms. EMs are responsible
for the electrical systems on ships on which everything depends: lighting,
communications, navigation, the ship’s guns, heating and cooling, and the galleys
for feeding Sailors. In fact, the electricity needs of a large ship can equal the needs
of a small city. Since faulty wiring or overloaded switches can lead to fires – a
Sailor’s nightmare, especially at sea – Electrician’s Mates are among the most
important Sailors for shipboard safety.
Following his Electrician’s Mate training, Harvey spent a few months each aboard
the USS RIGEL, a destroyer tender, and the battleship USS CALIFORNIA. He
reported aboard the battleship USS OKLAHOMA on September 30, 1930. The USS
OKLAHOMA had been commissioned in Philadelphia in 1916. She was based on
the East Coast for the next 14 years. She protected troop escort ships during World
War I and had operational cruises in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and through the newly built Panama Canal to the Pacific. She had a major overhaul and modernization in
Philadelphia in 1927-29, and then she was assigned to the West Coast in 1930.
Harvey joined her soon afterward, and he would serve on the USS OKLAHOMA
for the next 11 years.
Harvey completed his EM apprenticeship and advanced to journeyman, making
Petty Officer and rising from Electrician’s Mate Third Class to Second Class and
then First Class, or EM1. That is why we refer to him as EM1 Harvey Herber. He
served on multiple Pacific cruises, along with an Atlantic operation to rescue
American citizens who had been trapped in Spain during that country’s civil war. In
1937, the USS OKLAHOMA transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, her new home
port. Based on her age, the ship was scheduled for retirement in May 1942 – but we
know that history intervened 5 months prior to that date.
EM1 Herber died in action when carrier-based Japanese aircraft attacked the U.S.
Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. During her
overhaul in 1927-29, the USS OKLAHOMA had been fitted with anti-torpedo
bulges on her sides. The bulges protected her during the first 2 torpedo strikes, but
then 6 more torpedoes followed, and she succumbed. The ship capsized on her port
(left) side in just 12 minutes, trapping EM1 Herber and more than 400 Sailors. She
came to rest at a 135-degree angle. Her masts stuck into the sea floor. Only a portion
of her starboard (right) side showed above the waterline, along with her keel, or
bottom. The ship that had been EM1 Herber’s home for 11 years was now his tomb.
The job of righting the USS OKLAHOMA was so difficult that it took 2 years to
complete. The remains of the deceased Sailors were removed from the ship only in
1943. Identification was difficult, and at the time only 35 Sailors were positively
identified and returned to their families. The remains of the other 394 Sailors were
buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Oahu,
also known as Punchbowl due to its location in a volcanic crater.
Fast forward to 2015, when advances in DNA forensics gave the Department of
Defense confidence that it could exhume the remains and identify most of the USS
OKLAHOMA Sailors. The remains of all 394 Sailors were flown to a laboratory in
Omaha, Nebraska, and the Department of Defense began the painstaking process of
finding family members, obtaining DNA samples, and matching those samples with
the remains.
On July 22, 2021, EM1 Herber’s remains were identified. He was finally accounted
for. At his family’s request, he was flown from Omaha to Lubbock, the home of his
closest living relative, Jerry Johnson, his great nephew. Now more than 81 years
after he gave his life for our country, we can properly celebrate, honor, and
memorialize our Navy Shipmate and American hero, Electrician’s Mate First Class
Harvey Christopher Herber.
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