Ernest Ely joined the Navy in the summer of 1940 at the age of 20 years old, was sent to Pearl shortly thereafter . Ernest was present on board the West Virgina the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Barely 21 years old, Ernest was a Fireman Second Class and assigned the to the duty of water tender. During the attack, Ernest found himself thrown overboard wearing only trousers, swimming towards Ford Island, amid the burning oil, and chaos.

Covered in oil, Ernest spent most of the day carrying wounded and dying men from the trucks to the infirmaries and hospitals. By 12.00 am, the following day (Monday December 8, 1941) he was assigned to the Salt Lake City cruiser and headed out to sea.

SLC Deck Logs, Dec. 1941
SLC Deck Logs, Aug., 1943

Battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA BB-48 Website... http://www.usswestvirginia.org

Mike Mullins is the curator of the USS WV Website

Ernest N. Ely
...F2c, USS West Virginia, 12-7-41
...s/n 321-47-84
...Enlisted date 9/25/40 Des Moines, IA.
...Transferred to SLC 12/9/41