Seaman Second Class (S2c) Dencil Jeoffrey McIntosh, United States Navy. Service Number: 3372121

Early Life

Dencil Jeoffrey McIntosh was born on 26 December 1920 Mill Shoals, White County, Illinois. His father Charles McIntosh, born 1887 in Illinois, died 1948 in Illinois, was a Farmer and later a Bridge Laborer. His mother, Mary Lottie "Mollie" Harlan was born on 21 August 1891 in Mill Shoals, White County, Illinois and died in 1941 in Illinois. Dencil’s parents were married on 14 June 1913 in Mill Shoals Village, White County, Illinois. Dencil was the youngest of three children in the family; he had two older sisters.

Military

Dencil Jeoffrey McIntosh enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 9 October 1939 in St. Louis, Missouri. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to the Battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attack occurred. He reported aboard USS Pennsylvania on 15 December 1939.

On the morning of December 7th, 1941 the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was not among the other battleships lined up on battleship row. She was in a dry dock near the USS Downes and the USS Cassin. Her crew manned her guns and fired upon the attackers. As she was not in the water at the time, she avoided any torpedo hits but did suffer damage and the loss of 18 of her men.

Death and Burial

Dencil Jeoffrey McIntosh was Killed in Action on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Pennsylvania during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He is buried or memorialized at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Honolulu, Hawaii and is also memorialized at the Shrewsbury Cemetery in Mill Shoals, White County, Illinois.

Sources

https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/old-falling-apart-held-fleet-together

https://pearlharbor.org/ships-of-pearl-harbor-uss-pennsylvania/

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/636584179/dancil-mcintosh

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111658713/dencil-jeoffrey-mcintosh

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=365834

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87037967/the-honolulu-advertiser/

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)

McIntosh, Dencil Jeoffrey, S2c