From the December 7th American News (SD) "Pearl Harbor remembered: area man on USS Oklahoma week before attack."
William B. Gese of Mina Lake had a close brush with destiny when his ship tied up next to the USS Oklahoma and then he attended church services on board the doomed vessel exactly one week before the attack.
Gese, a native of Aberdeen, was a member of the 147th Field Artillery and sailing on the transport Willard A. Holbrook. Upon arrival at Pearl Harbor November 27th, they moored next to the Oklahoma.
On Sunday, the 30th, Gese and other Catholics aboard the Holbrook attended Mass aboard the Oklahoma because their ship only had a Protestant chaplain. No doubt, some of the sailors at the Mass were among the 429 who died the following week. The Oklahoma was the first battleship hit by a torpedo and the ship turned turtle.
The Holbrook, the former World War I troop ship, the USS Taft, left port the following day, heading for the Philippines. They heard news of the attack en route and changed course and zig-zagged to Brisbane, Australia. They also painted their ship battleship gray.
Mr. Gese spent the rest of the war in the South Pacific. Before the war, he had been in refrigeration, and at one time he recalls working on General Douglas MacArthur's cooler. He didn't meet the general, but helped himself to fresh strawberries.
According to the article, there are currently eleven registered Pearl Harbor Survivor plates issued to South Dakota drivers.
The Greatest Generation. --Cooter
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