USS West Virginia Veteran

Anthony Francis Blazejack was serving aboard the West Virginia when she was attacked at Pearl Harbor. He survived the attack and went on to serve four more years in the naval Pacific campaign. After the war he married a Navy nurse, Margaret Curtis, and they raised seven children. He died in September 1973. He didn't talk about it much (Pearl Harbor). I remember him saying he was up, getting ready to attend Mass when the attack came. The first explosions knocked him overboard, but fortunately he was a strong swimmer. He always told stories about swimming ashore through burning oil. My mother recently told me that he had been blown out of his clothes and had to go naked to the commissary to get something to wear. He worked trying to rescue shipmates from the burning water.

A week after Pearl he began service aboard the U.S.S. Monaghan (DD-354). He was on the Monaghan from 12/14/41 until 1/4/43. That period includes that ships participation in the Battle of the Coral Sea (5/3 to 5/8 1942), the Battle of Midway (6/4 to 6/7 1942),and the Aleutian Patrol.

From January 1943 to April 1944 he served aboard the U.S.S. Waynesburg (PC-777) at San Pedro, CA. The Waynesburg was a training school ship assigned to prepare crews for various types of small craft.  In April 1944 he reported to the U.S.S. Lamons (DE-743). During his service, the Lamons was at the Mariana Islands Campaign, the Palau Islands Campaign, the Phillipine Islands Invasion Campaign, Iwo Jima, the Okinawa Invasion, Makassan Straits, the Japanese Home Islands and Leyte/Luzon. That took him through August 1945. 

From Tom Blazejack

Anthony Blazejack and his wife Margaret.