Victim at Pearl Harbor, sailor is reburied in Kent

KENT — Seventy-four years, six months and 11 days after his death, family, veterans, townspeople and others from far and near gathered in First Congregational Church on Saturday, June 18, to pay homage to Naval Ensign Joseph Parker Hittorff Jr. and welcome his remains to their final resting place after a long journey and many years.

Born in Kingston, N.J., on Dec. 2, 1916, Hittorff lived in Springfield, Mass., for a short time before moving with his family to Westmont, N.J., where he attended high school. 

In June 1936 he entered the U.S. Naval Academy. After his graduation in 1940, he was sent to serve aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in Hawaii.

In one letter home, Hittorff wrote that he was “expecting the worst and hoping for the best” in regard to the rising tensions with Japan. 

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, five days after his 25th birthday, the worst came. Hittorff was one of the 2,403 Americans killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 

For the past 74 years Hittorff was also one of more than 73,000 Americans killed in World War  II whose remains were never properly identified. Though his Naval Academy ring and ceremonial sword were both eventually returned to his family, Hittorff’s remains were interred in a mixed grave at Punch Bowl Hill Cemetery on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, along with those of 27 other unidentified victims of the Pearl Harbor Attacks.

He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the American Defense Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War  II Victory Medal.

According to a letter written to Hittorff’s family by shipmate Herbert Rommell after the sinking of the Oklahoma, Hittorff was killed trying to make his way to the engine room to get the ship underway even after the order had been given to abandon ship. 

Writing years later, Adolph D. Mortensen, who was with Hittorff at the time of the attack, reported that after being heavily torpedoed, the Oklahoma began to take on water. The ship was soon listing badly and eventually completely rolled over, making escape nearly impossible. While Mortensen was able to survive by treading water in an air pocket with several others until a porthole could be opened, Hittorff was trapped below deck and never made it to the surface.

A gentleman and a hero by all accounts, Herbert Rommell said of Hittorff in his letter, “He was always a credit to himself, his folks and the Navy.”

Hittorff’s sister, Marion, provided a saliva sample, which allowed his remains to be identified. She did not live long enough to see him buried; she died at age 98.

After a ceremony with full military honors, Hittorff was laid to rest next to his aunt and uncle, the parents of Marie Camp of South Kent, Hittorff’s oldest relative known to be living.