Machinist’s Mate Second Class (MM2c) Lorentz Emanuel Hultgren, United States Navy. Service Number: 3857798

Early Life
Lorentz Emanuel Hultgren was born on 15 May 1918 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington (some records indicate he was born in Grays Harbor County, Washington). His father, Birger Lauritz Emanuel Hultgren, born 5 August 1891 in Orsa, Kopparberg, Sweden, died 11 October 1973 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, was a Prescription Clerk in a drugstore. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1902. His mother, Lillian D. Mason, was born about 1897 in Washington and died (date/location unknown). Lorentz’s parents were married on 25 May 1917 in Port Orchard, Kitsap County, Washington. Lorentz was their only child. Birger also married Signe M. (unknown) (1894-1991) and they had a daughter.

Lorentz married Beatrice Allien Seaton, born 10 January 1918 in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, died 24 June 1992 in Yelm, Thurston County, Washington. They had no children. After Lorentz’s death, Beatrice remarried Joseph Llewellyn Dunn (1912–1994) and they had a daughter born in 1950.

Military
Lorentz Emanuel Hultgren enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After boot camp and additional follow-on training and other duty stations, 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 USS Oklahoma on 9 January 1938. His brother-in-law, Chester Ernest Seaton, also died on the USS Oklahoma that day.

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 USS 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
Lorentz Emanuel Hultgren 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.

On February 21, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Machinist's Mate Second Class Lorentz E. Hultgren, missing from World War II.

Machinist's Mate Second Class Hultgren, who joined the U.S. Navy from Washington, 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. MM2 Hultgren 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 MM2 Hultgren’s remains.

DPAA - Addendum
Machinist's Mate Second class Lorentz Emauel Hultgren's remains were buried with full military honors on 09 January 2023 in Honolulu, Hawaii.National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii. In addition, a rosette was placed next to Hultgren’s name at the American Battle Monuments Commission's Courts of the Missing, also located in the Punchbowl,

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/636579663/lorentz-hultgren

https://www.fold3.com/page/529991895/lorentz-e-hultgren

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/247865738/lorentz-emanuel-hultgren

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56111492/lorentz-emanuel-hultgren

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77749435/lorentz-emanuel-hultgren

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=123077

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeLuEAK

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85219708/the-news-tribune/

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2324/images/32456_1220705235_0011-01069?pId=93256

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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served and on 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 person’s name and read his/her story.

Red Mulvanny - Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars

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Hultgren, Lorentz Emanuel, MM2c