from Kansas killed at Pearl Harbor

Pete Turk, age 20, from Roseland, Kansas, Cheokee county.

Parents: John Turk

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On October 1, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman Second Class Pete Turk, missing from World War II. Seaman Second Class Turk entered the U.S. Navy from Kansas and served on the USS California. On December 7, 1941, this battleship was attacked by Japanese forces while moored at Pearl Harbor. The California suffered multiple torpedo and bomb hits, causing severe damage. One hundred and four sailors and Marines were lost, including SEA2 Turk. While counter-flooding efforts kept the California upright, the ship slowly sank over the next three days. Several months later, in late March and early April, the California was raised and floated to dry dock for repair. Remains were removed from the ship in the weeks following the attack and during Navy salvage operations in early 1942. Although some were identified, many were later buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Honolulu, Hawaii (NMCP). In 2018, the DPAA began to exhume unknown remains associated with the California and reexamine them using advances in forensic technology. Laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established one set of these remains as those of SEA2 Turk.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Wichita Eagle (1942)