M-1010  Extremely RARE, December 7TH, 1941, Pearl Harbor, KIA Purple Heart for a member of the anti aircraft gun crew of the USS Nevada. The boxed purple heart is in wonderful condition and is contained in its original box. Research has been pulled from Naval Archives and is included as shown. $3595

     At about 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, several hundred Japanese fighter planes, torpedo and dive bombers began their surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Shortly after, the Nevada went to battle stations and swung into action under the command of her senior officer present, Lt. Cmdr. Francis J. Thomas. “Machine guns opened fire on torpedo planes approaching on port beam. Members of crew state one enemy plane brought down by Nevada machine gun fire at 100 yards on port quarter.” This may well have been the first Japanese plane shot down that day. The Nevada’s gunners had quickly found the range.

      Most battleships at port, sitting idle, usually kept no more than one of their four boilers lit, usually to power the generators that provided electricity needed for life aboard ship. Thanks to Ensign Taussig‘s foresight, two of the Nevada’s boilers were now fired up, the second having been online for nearly an hour. Two were normally insufficient to raise enough steam to move a ship out of harm’s way, but on that Sunday morning that was enough to make the difference between life and death. While the nearby Arizona mushroomed in a fireball from a direct hit to her magazines and bombs rained down across Battleship Row, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Edwin Hill led a hastily gathered crew to the wharf where Nevada was tethered.

     Within an hour, the crew of the battleship USS Nevada was struggling to coax the wounded battleship from its mooring.In the opening minutes of the attack, the Nevada was struck by a torpedo and began to take on water. The crew managed to get the ship underway at 8:40 a.m. — the only battleship able to do so that day — despite five subsequent bomb hits causing significant damage and fire. The crew later beached the sinking ship in shallow water so it could be salvaged later. Of the Nevada's crew of about 1,500, 76 sailors and Marines were killed during the attack or resulting from wounds suffered. Most were recovered and identified in the 1940s, but nine are still unaccounted for. 

Eight battleships were struck, along with 13 other vessels and nearby airfields. The attack, which launched from six aircraft carriers and came in two waves, resulted in 2,403 killed and 1,178 wounded. The actions of the command and crew of the Nevada saved countless lives aboard and allowed the ship to be spared total destruction.