Fatality at Pearl Harbor

On the quiet Sunday morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan’s armed forces launched a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. Charles McKelvey was a sailor serving on the USS Shaw (DD-347), a Mahan-class destroyer launched in 1936.


The Shaw was in dry dock at the time of the attack. She was struck almost simultaneously in her forward portion by three separate dive bombers in the attack which was the start of the United State’s participation in World War II.
 
An uncontrollable fire ensued, and the ship was ordered abandoned. Efforts were then made to flood the dry dock in an effort to quench the flames; however, within a half-hour after the bombardment, her forward munitions magazine exploded spectacularly and removed her bow. The aft portion remained afloat despite the intense fires that consumed her forward portion. Fragment missiles from the explosion pierced the old harbor tug Sotoyomo (YT-9) also in the dry dock, and she soon sank.

Charles was amongst the 93 members of the crew who were killed in this attack.

The proud Shaw would live to fight another day.

In early 1942 she was partially restored at Pearl Harbor and then sailed to the West Coast and Mare’s Island, San Francisco for a complete overhaul after which time she returned to service. She experienced considerable action in the South Pacific.

In 1949, four years after World War II ended, the Charro Social Club erected a stone monument in then Diaz Park, now Lt. George Gutierrez Veterans Memorial Park, to commemorate their fallen servicemen in arms. The inscription on it reads:

IN HONOR AND MEMORY OF OUR COMRADES OF THE HARLINGEN DISTRICT WHO PAID THE SUPREME SACRIFICE WORLD WAR II 1941-1945

Carved in the gray granite stone are the names of the servicemen who had died. As time passed, relatives of other service personnel who had been overlooked came forth with additional names. Their names were cast in a bronze plate later affixed to the stone monument. There are ninety-three names in all including that of Charles McKelvey.