Seaman First Class (S1c) Natale Ignatius Torti, United States Navy. Service Number: 4106295

Early Life

Natale Ignatius Torti was born on 27 June 1922 in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri. His father Louis B. Torti, born 13 September 1879 in Italy, died 21 August 1965 in Manchester, St. Louis County, Missouri, was a Railroad Laborer. His mother, Ines Nosari was born on 13 October 1889 in Novi di Modena, Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and died on 17 August 1923 in St Louis, St Louis City, Missouri. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1903. Natale’s parents were married on (unknown date). Natale was the third of seven children in the family; he had two older sisters, two younger brothers and two younger sisters.

Military

Natale Ignatius Torti enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 25 July 1940 in St. Louis, Missouri. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to the Battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attack occurred. He reported aboard Oklahoma on 30 March 1941.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the United States into World War II. At the onset of the 7 December 1941 attack, the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being moored at berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row.” Just before 8 am, the Oklahoma was among the first of the ships struck in the attack. A torpedo struck on her port side and she capsized quickly. After the Arizona, she was the largest loss of life, at 429 sailors and marines. The Oklahoma was salvaged in 1942, but it was determined she could not be repaired. In May of 1947, she was sold for scrap and while under tow to California, she sank in a storm. Her exact location remains unknown to this day.

Death and Burial

Natale Ignatius Torti was Declared Dead while Missing in Action or Lost at Sea on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located inside Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is also memorialized at the USS Oklahoma Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After his remains were identified, he was buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri.

On April 26, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman First Class Natale Ignatius Torti, missing from World War II.

Seaman First Class Torti, who joined the U.S. Navy from Missouri, served on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was aboard the ship during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the incident, they could not be individually identified at the time. SEA1 Torti was initially buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, modern forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and identification of SEA1 Torti’s remains.
Seaman First Class Torti is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Sources

https://pearlharbor.org/history-uss-oklahoma/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor-raid/battleship-row-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack/uss-oklahoma-and-uss-maryland-during-the-pearl-harbor-attack.html

https://www.fold3.com/page/530008556/natale-i-torti/stories

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/636577088/natale-torti

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56133812/natale-ignatius-torti

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=361676

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xe0nEAC

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86145496/the-st-louis-star-and-times/

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author by clicking on this link:
https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=Profile&type=Person&ID=148728 (Mulvanny, Robert (Red) (SBTS Historian), CDR)

Torti, Natale Ignatius, S1c