F1c Harold Harry Eugene Bates was born on November 5, 1914, in Rush Center, Rush County, Kansas to Edward Cecil and Alice Nevin (Davison) Bates. His father was a manager of a lumber yard and later an elevator. He had one older sister. The 1930 census recorded him in Stafford, Kansas as a high school freshman.

Harry traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to enlist in the U.S. Navy on December 11, 1937. After completing his initial training, Bates was assigned to the USS Oklahoma. He arrived aboard the ship on 05 February 1938.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the 7 December 1941 attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being moored at berth Fox 5 on Battleship Row. Just before 8 am, the Oklahoma was among the first of the ships struck in the attack.

The Oklahoma was struck by three torpedoes within the first ten minutes. One struck her port side opening the hull almost completely from below the forward gun turret back to the third turret over 250 feet. As the Oklahoma began to roll, several more torpedoes hit causing the ship to capsize trapping many sailors inside the hull. Heroic efforts began immediately to rescue the trapped men. After three days, only 32 sailors were recovered alive. After the Arizona, she had the largest loss of life, 429 sailors and marines.

The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap. While under tow to San Francisco, California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.

Fireman 1st Class Harold Eugene Bates (Service Number 3420334) was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it came under attack by Japanese aircraft. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the incident, Bates could not be individually identified at the time. As such, he was interred as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

On February 5, 2021, F1c Harold Eugene Bates remains were identified, and the DPAA officially listed him as accounted for. His remains were returned to Larned, Kansas where he was buried with full military honors on May 29, 2021.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see

www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to

write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you

help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that

will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name

and read his/her story. If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by”.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census and 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Ancestry.com. WWII Draft Registration Cards [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Marion County Review Newspaper 1945, Marion, KS Library

FindaGrave.com