Ned Burton Donohue |
Ned Burton Donohue graduated from Boot Camp on April 4, 1939 and reported to the USS Arizona on April 29, 1939. |
Ned Burton Donohue was born on July 2, 1921, at Peerless, Utah to Murl Burton Donohue and Myrtle May Redford Donohue. His family moved back and forth between their farm in Talmage, Utah and the Carbon County coal mines in Rains, Utah. Ned's father found it necessary to work as a miner during the winter months to support his family and his farm. Many farmers in the area had to keep a job and work their land on their off days and vacations and lots of the Donohue neighbors led the same hard life. While Ned's father worked at the coal mines in Rains, Ned's mother ran the farm in Talmage. In the winter months, Ned's mother moved the family to Rains so that Ned could be with his father. Ned would walk to the mine at quitting time to walk home with his father. Ned liked to spend time with his friends, Taski, Glen Childs, and Max Kadez. When the family lived in Talmage, Ned would work on the farm, ride horses and ride around a favorite site called "Big Hollow". Ned liked to carve his name in rocks with his friend Keith McDonald. Ned loved all winter sports and taking his sister Dora to dances. Ned attended school in both Carbon and Duchesne Countys and didn't like it very much in either, so when he was seventeen, he talked his father into signing the papers so he could join the Navy and see the world. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Ned left his cousin May's home and returned to his ship, the USS Arizona anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. May wanted Ned to delay in returning to the ship for his duty assignment at 8:00 a.m., so that he could attend church with her and her husband that morning. But Ned insisted that he return to the ship for duty because he had never been late for duty, and wasn't going to be listed as AWOL (Absent without Leave). May believes that Ned probably would have just arrived at his duty station in the boiler room of the ship when he was killed. Ned's mother never got over the fact that Ned had been killed. She would always be looking for him to come home, and each time a knock would come to the door, she thought it would be him, coming home. Ned's name is listed on the USS Arizona Memorial located over the partially submerged battleship USS Arizona. A monument to those who died in the attack, stands at Memory Grove in Salt Lake City, Utah, and there is a cross bearing Ned's name in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The fact that no memorial of any kind in Ned's hometown of Talmage, Utah, has always bothered Jess Christensen, who knew Ned as a boy. One day Jess found an unusual, big, and heavy rock in the mountains. Thinking that it looked a bit like a headstone, Jess loaded it in his truck and took it home. At some point, Jess, who has spent many years looking after the Talmage Cemetery, came up with the idea to use the rock as a memorial to Ned. Jess, along with Johnny Rowley, have been inscribing Ned's name and vital facts on the rock along with a pretty good likeness of an American Flag and are looking forward to having the project finished very soon. |
USS Arizona (F1C) |
Ned (age 7) and Sport (1928) |
Chris Donohue (Ned's Uncle) with Ned (age 1) (1921) |
Uncle Ned's First Letter Home Postcard from US Naval Training Station San Diego, California |
Ned Donohue - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Carlyle B. Hansen - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. John "Jack" Marshall - Transferred to the USS Harris November 7, 1941. Edwin Hegwer - Survivor USS Oglala. RJ Ambrose - Stationed aboard the USS Monssen in Iceland during the attack at Pearl Harbor. Harold Hunter - Transferred to the Asiatic Fleet Wallace Dunn - Transferred to the Asiatic Fleet. Killed aboard the USS Pillsbury. Harry Marple - Upon leaving the Navy, he was electrocuted while working on hightension wires. Oscar M. Rudie (Not Pictured) - Transferred to the Asiatic Fleet. Eligah T. Autry, Jr. - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. William Arthur Marsh - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Howard Burt Ibbotson - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Nosita - Transferred to the USS Nevada. Clarence D. Konenekamp - Killed aboard the USS Arizona. (Information provided by Oscar M. Rudie) |
Information provided by Vincent "Jim" Vlach only enlisted survivor of the 11 assigned to the Executive Officer's office. They handled the enlisted records for those assigned (except for the Marine Detachment and Aviation Squadron Ned Burton Donohue (368-42-92) enlisted in the Navy on January 10, 1939 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He reported on board the USS Arizona on April 29, 1939 after completion of training at the Naval Training Station, San Diego. He was advanced to Fireman First Class on September 1, 1941 and was killed in action during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during which his ship was destroyed. His body was not recovered. The Firemen were assigned to the Engineering Department; that was comprised of the A Division (Auxiliary), B Division (Boilers), E Division (Electrical) and M Division (Machinery). Unfortunately the records of the division to which men were assigned were not recovered. Most of the engineering personnel had battle stations well below the main deck. All personnel who were on board had plenty of time to their battle stations. During early salvage operations, divers air hoses were severed on the jagged steel; attempts to recover bodies in submerged areas was discontinued and approximately 900 are still entombed on the sunken Arizona. The beautiful memorial spans the sunken ship. |
