Storekeeper First Class (SK1c) John William Craig, United States Navy. Service Number: 3466549

Early Life

John William Craig was born on 15 November 1915 in Monroe, Monroe County, Arkansas. His father, John David Craig, born 7 November 1885 in Tennessee, died 5 September 1959 in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, was a Laborer in a wood clearing lot. His mother, Lutie A. Sawyer was born on 17 September 1884 in Tennessee and died on 24 January 1964 in Arkansas. John’s parents were married in about 1905. John was the eldest of three children in the family; he had two younger sisters.

Military

John William Craig enlisted in the United States Navy. Following 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.

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

John William Craig 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. After his remains were identified, he was buried at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, Section: N, Site: 285

On December 8, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Storekeeper First Class John William Craig, missing from World War II.

Storekeeper First Class Craig, who joined the U.S. Navy from Arkansas, was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it came under attack by Japanese aircraft. SK1 Craig 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 and were interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination of unknown remains from the Oklahoma, and SK1 Craig was eventually identified from among them.

Storekeeper First Class Craig is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

SK1 John W. Craig, USN, was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was a crewmember of the USS Oklahoma. His remains were interred as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii until 2019 when DNA analysis allowed him to be identified and returned to Arkansas for a proper burial. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson declared December 6, 2019 as John W. Craig Memorial Day and ordered that the state flag be flown at half-staff in remembrance of the fallen Sailor.
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/636581121/john-craig

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205238242/john-william-craig

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=15579

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeKuEAK

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2324/images/32456_1220705235_0010-00064?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.103386944.1747882278.1630100078-1128903496.1596401247&pId=105688

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 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.
If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please email me by clicking on my name.
CDR Robert "Red" Mulvanny-Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars

Craig, John William, SK1