Fireman First Class (F1c) Walter Fay Schleiter, United States Navy. Service Number: 2833716

Early Life

Walter Fay Schleiter was born in 1919 in Freedom, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. His father Carl Julius Schleiter, born 1885 in Pennsylvania, died 12 February 1920 in Freedom, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, worked for a granite and marble company. His mother, Ada Alice Fenstermacher was born on 20 March 1891 in Stark County, Ohio and died on 4 September 1970 in Stark County, Ohio. Walter’s parents were married on 29 December 1908 in Stark County, Ohio. Walter was the second of two children in the family; he had an older sister. After her first husband died, Ada remarried Charles Stauffer.

Military

Walter Fay Schleiter enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 13 August 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio. 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 12 October 1940.

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

Walter Fay Schleiter 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. NEWS RELEASE| June 25, 2018 - USS Oklahoma Sailor Killed During World War II Accounted For, By DPAA Public Affairs

WASHINGTON – Navy Fireman 1st Class Walter F. Schleiter, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on May 18, 2018.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Schleiter was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Schleiter.

In 2015, DPAA disinterred remains from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission. Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services. Schleiter's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For more information about DPAA, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call 703-699-1420.

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/memorial/636577811/walter-schleiter

https://www.fold3.com/page/530008159/walter-fay-schleiter

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56121583/walter-fay-schleiter

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=362017

https://search.usa.gov/search?utf8=%26%23x2713%3B&affiliate=dpaa&query=schleiter%3B+walter&commit=

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)

Schleiter, Walter Fay, F1c