1 month ago
14
U.S.|Jessie Mahaffey, Survivor of Pearl Harbor Attack, Dies at 102
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/jessie-mahaffey-dead.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
He was cleaning the deck of the U.S.S. Oklahoma when it capsized under Japanese torpedo fire. Less than a year later, he survived the sinking of another Navy ship in the Pacific.
March 10, 2025, 7:28 p.m. ET
Jessie Mahaffey, who was scrubbing the deck of the U.S.S. Oklahoma when it was hit by Japanese torpedoes at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and who was among the last living service members who survived the surprise attack, died on March 1 in Alexandria, La. He was 102.
His death, in a nursing center near his longtime home in Many, La., was confirmed by his grandson John Mahaffey.
Mr. Mahaffey later survived the sinking of another Navy ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese in the Pacific. In an interview on Sunday, John Mahaffey, his grandson, said that Mr. Mahaffey would talk about his time in the Navy only when his relatives would ask him about it, which they did often.
A month or less before one of the ships was attacked — John Mahaffey is fairly sure it was the Oklahoma — Mr. Mahaffey was given a new assignment and was moved from a room where powder was stored.
“He went from being in the hull to on the deck, and that saved his life,” his grandson said.
Image
In December, Mr. Mahaffey told KTBS-TV of Shreveport, La., that Dec. 7, 1941, had started as a quiet Sunday.
