Service Member

F1C RILEY MIRVILLE BROWN

On the morning of December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS West Virginia (BB-48) was moored outboard from the USS Tennessee (BB-43). Five 18-inch aircraft torpedoes and two armor piercing bombs converted from 16-inch naval shells hit the West Virginia in its port side. The first bomb punctured the ship’s deck, causing it to collapse. The second was a dud, though it ignited aircraft fuel and sent billows of toxic smoke into the air. The enemy bombs and torpedoes killed and wounded many of those on board the battleship. While the extensive damage to the hull caused the West Virginia to sink, the crew’s efforts to keep it from capsizing meant the battleship could be salvaged, and it managed to return to service later in the war.

Fireman First Class Riley Mirville Brown, who entered the U.S. Navy from Texas, served aboard the West Virginia at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. He was lost during the sinking and his remains have not been recovered. Today, Fireman First Class Brown is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

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