Lt Werner Bauer

A photo of Lt Werner Bauer - December 8, 1941. This photo was taken the day after the attack at Pearl Harbor. Lt. Werner Bauer (USNR) was aboard the battleship USS West Virginia when she was hit. Another officer flooded the compartments opposite the torpedo hits, allowing the West Virginia to settle to the bottom upright. Werner lead a team into the black below the waterline to flood her ammunition bunkers. He survived with mere cuts and bruises. Somewhere he found a naval officer's hat to get this picture taken of him while still in his hospital gown. He was eager to let his family back in Missouri know he was safe.

Ironically, his cousin, Rudolph Bauer, was a bomber pilot with the Luftwaffe. One brother immigrated, the other did not.