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Mitchell Republic

South Dakotans among Pearl Harbor victims

By Ross Dolan

December 07, 2009 06:49 AM

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Marie Sieverding of Sioux Falls still tries to imagine her brother as an old man.

Perhaps other South Dakotans -- relatives of men who died when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor are doing the same today.

George Jarding, the first Hanson County serviceman to die in World War II, would have been 86 today, but he will remain 19 forever in the memories of his family.

"My older brother, Louis Jarding, went on the honor flight in May. I saw the news pictures of all those men visiting the World War II Memorial and it's hard to realize what George would have looked like now -- probably a lot like them," said Sieverding, 83. "His death was very hard on the family."

George W. Jarding, an Emery native and fireman third class in the U.S. Navy, was one of four Mitchell-area residents and nine South Dakotans overall to die on Dec. 7, 1941 -- exactly 68 years ago today. The other residents from the region who died that day were Herman Goetsch of Mitchell; Myron Lehman, Brule County; and Jimmy Lee Henrichsen, Gann Valley.

Jarding, Lehman and Henrichsen all were aboard the USS Oklahoma, along with South Dakota shipmates Laverne Nigg, Roberts County; Leaman Dill, Huron; Arthur Grand Pre, Conde; Walter Rogers, Cash; Porter Rich, Lake Preston; and Harold Roesch, Lake County.

Goetsch, for whom the local American Legion post is partly named, died on the USS Nevada.

Overall, 2,390 died that day. The event was a grim forecast of the losses that would be suffered by many American families in the succeeding years.

By the end of 1941, the United States' relationship with Japan had rapidly deteriorated following Japan's brutal invasion of China in the late 1930s.

The U.S. Pacific fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was a major obstacle that prevented Japan's access to the area's oil and natural resources. The Japanese decided, in one bold move, to remove the U.S. military from the picture and to consolidate its power in Southeast Asia.

Numerous motion pictures -- from 1953's best picture "From Here to Eternity," to 2001's "Pearl Harbor" -- have recounted the story of the Pearl Harbor attack, which was carefully timed to coincide with the breaking off of Japan's peace talks with America.

On screen, the attack lasts mere minutes; in reality it continued for nearly two hours and took an enormous toll of military and civilian life.

The attacks began around 8:40 a.m., or shortly before noon South Dakota time, with attacking planes strafing and bombing airfields and military installations enroute to Pearl.

Riding at anchor in battleship row there were eight battleships, the pride of the American fleet. Two -- the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma -- were destroyed in the attack; the remaining six capital ships were damaged but eventually restored to service. In a stroke of good fortune, America's aircraft carriers were not anchored there at the time, and it was they, and not the battlewagons, that would later turn the tide of war.

The Arizona took a direct hit on a forward magazine, collapsing its decks and setting off numerous secondary explosions that took the lives of 1,177 on board. It settled into the harbor sand and remains there today, a tomb for some and a tribute to all who died there.

Many Americans still recall hearing the first news of the attack by radio. Former U.S. Sen. and WWII veteran George McGovern said in a past interview with The Daily Republic that he was listening to a symphonic music program as part of a music appreciation class he was taking at Dakota Wesleyan University. The news of Pearl Harbor interrupted the broadcast.

McGovern recalled that the attack galvanized American resolve and sent many young men, including himself, off to war in the ensuing weeks.

A middle child in a family of 11, George Jarding enlisted in March 1941 and had plans to be a 20-year Navy man and then go back to school for more education.

"It didn't work out that way," said Marie Sieverding, his sister.

After graduating from machinist school, he was assigned to the Oklahoma in mid-September 1941. His family would learn that he was working below decks in the ship's kitchen at the time of the raid.

"He had a nice bass voice," Sieverding said of her late brother, who sang in school and church choirs.

She was rehearsing for a play at St. Martin's Catholic School when she heard the news of the attack.

"We knew my brother was there but we didn't know where Pearl Harbor was, actually. My mother and I got books down and we checked it out. We kept waiting and waiting and when we didn't hear anything, we thought, 'Well, he must be all right.' "

Two days before Christmas, the Emery depot agent brought a telegram out to family's farm, she recalled. They didn't have a telephone.

"I remember my mother was washing clothes at the time," Sieverding said.

The telegram simply said Jarding was missing in action in the performance of his duties.

"We did a lot of praying," she said, "and a lot of people came and talked to the folks."

In February, the Navy confirmed Jarding's death.

Years later, another letter informed his family that their son's remains, which had been buried at Punch Bowl Crater Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, had been identified.

Carl and Anna Jarding decided to bring their son's remains home. They were buried in Ann's Cemetery, Humboldt.

Three other brothers -- Joe, Tony and Louis -- served in World War II, but all returned safely.

The family continues to dutifully serve in the military. Sieverding said that she has two of her six grandsons are currently in Kuwait and a third will soon be leaving for Iraq.

In an interview last week with The Daily Republic, she remembered the pain that came to her family after her brother's death at Pearl Harbor.

"I had never seen my father cry before," she said, "and he cried a lot after that."

Jimmie L Henrichsen