World War II Honoree

Robert Lee Hebel

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Chicago, Illinois

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Signalman Third Class. Inducted into the United States Navy August 27, 1940 at Chicago, Illinois, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Upon his graduation from boot camp and Signal Schooling, he was transferred to USS Arizona for duty, responsible for visual communication, when all ships are under ‘Radio Silence’. On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1941 the Emperor of Japan and his Naval Aviators launched their well-planned attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu. The Arizona along with her shipmates lay moored on Ford Island came under attack, and she was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb, igniting the ship’s forward ammunition magazine. Reported missing in action or buried at sea succeeding the attack. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.