World War II Honoree

Rex Elwood Wise

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

South Haven, Kansas

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Fireman First Class. Inducted into the United States Navy December 27, 1939 at Kansas City, Missouri, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Upon his graduation from boot camp and Fire Training, he was transferred to the USS Oklahoma Battleship, BB-37 for duty as a Fireman, and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. 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 Oklahoma along with her shipmates lay moored on Ford Island sustained multiple torpedo hits during the attack, which caused it to quickly capsize. The Battle of Pearl Harbor took his life succeeding the attack, and interred as an unknown in the Oahu Nuuanu Cemetery, Territory of Hawaii. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. In June of 2015, personnel from the Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in Hawaii disinterred an unknown from Oahu Cemetery, and transferred the remains to their Honolulu’s laboratory for analysis, where he was identified. The family of this Seaman requested that he be buried at Rose Hill Cemetery South Haven, Kansas on April 22, 2020 with Military Honors. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.