News Article - Vernon Dean Turpin

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More First Hand Reports On 'Day Of Infamy"

Turpin On California As It Sank At Pearl Harbor

Right in the midst of "Battleship Row" - that's where former Marine Pvt. Vernon Turpin, 2106 E. Main, Urbana, was at the time of the fateful bombing of Pearl Harbor 20 years ago Thursday.

Turpin, aboard the USS California next in line with the USS West Virginia, the USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona, had just finished watch and was eating breakfast in the No. 2 casement.

He recalls that his ship caught several torpedoes and a couple of bombs before sinking and coming to rest on the bottom of the harbor. Two men were lost from Turpin's Marine detachment, and well over a hundred Navy men.

"The USS Nevada, the only ship to get underway was hit about the time she went by us," Turpin said.

Everyone abandoned ship and swam the 100 yards or so to shore, Turpin said. An anti-aircraft watch movement began and lasted through January.

Turpin, now a photographer with the Public Information Office, University of Illinois, resides with his wife Darlene, son Stanley, 9, and daughter Mary Jo, 6, in Urbana.

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Note from family member:

The men didn't talk much about the war. The family history says that Vernon's brother Clifton was also assigned to the California, but was on shore leave on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. One was hospitalized, but we don't know which one. It took the brothers several days to find each other and to know that the other was still alive.