YURKO-JOSEPH
JOSEPH JOHN YURKO
WT1
PEARL HARBOR CASUALTY
Joseph John Yurko was reportedly born on April 20, 1909 in Hungary. Historical records are scarce concerning him in addition to recording him as a Watertender First Class assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. When the ship was torpedoed and capsized, WT1 Yurko was a casualty of the attack. During salvage operations numerous bodies were recovered and buried as “Unknowns” as their identities could not be determined. In recent years a number of “Unknowns” have been successfully dis-interned and identified but WT1 Yurko remains one of those who remain unrecovered and thus presumable is buried in a “Unknown” mass grave at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. WT1 Yurko was survived by his wife who was residing in Long Beach, California.
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)