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PFC Herbert Dreesbach was listed as Killed in Action on December 7, 1941 after the ship he was serving on, the USS Arizona, was hit by Japanese bombers at Pearl Harbor.
USS Arizona Whale Boat Team Standing left to right:
Lawrence J. Griffin, Herbert A. Dreesbach, Marvin A. Hughes, John McRay Baker, Eugene Brickley, Gordon E. Shive, and Burnis L. Bond.
Kneeling left to right:
Francis J. Pedrotti, Robert C. Erskine, Robert W. Dunnam, Donald E. Fleetwood, David W. Bartlet and Russell J. McCurdy.
During the summer of 1941, the Marine detachment engaged in the Whale Boat competition with the Pacific Fleet.
We raced against other Marine detachments, and won. We pulled against all the divisions of our ship, and won.
In getting ready for the Fleet Championship run off, the USS Arizona had to field a team. The ship's captain, Franklin Van Valkenburgh, thought the best men from each division should make up the team.
Major Alan Shapley, our Detachment Commander, had been competitor at the Naval Academy (Class of 1927) in football, basketball and track. In 1926, he was also quarterback on the Navy eleven that won the National Championship. They went on to play the University of Washington in the Rose Bowl. He was also theManager and first baseman on the USS Arizona's baseball team.
With this background in competitive sports and his judgement of our Marine Whale Boat team, he thought all of his Whale Boat Marines were #1. Major Shapley suggested to the Captain that a two or three run off of Marines against the best Navy men would tell the story. The Marines won all the play off races and became the USS Arizona team in the fall fleet races. We finished runner-up having lost by two feet to the Fleet Champions from the USS Pennsylvania. I was part of that team.
On December 7, 1941, the only survivors of that team were Sgt. John Baker and me, Pvt. Russell McCurdy.
PFC Herbert Dreesbach is memorialized at the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.