Chief Petty Officer Clarence E. Lux USN

Signing up for a six-year spell, Clarence Lux joined the Navy in February 1940, and had almost two years experience behind him before Pearl Harbor. After training he was posted to the 32,300 ton battleship USS Tennessee and at the time of the December 7 attack was on duty in the after engine room when two Japanese bombs hit the ship.
When the stern of the Tennessee was set on fire following the explosion that destroyed the Arizona, Clarence worked with the fire-control parties to save the ship. He remained with the Tennessee for the whole of the war, seeing action that included the bombardments at the
Aleutians, Tarawa, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamashiro.

Chief Boatsman Edward Wise USN

Joining the US Navy in September 1940, Edward Wise also found himself posted out to the USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor. As part of the battleship’s port watch as a quarter deck seaman, he worked in the ship’s post office, but on the morning of December 7, 1941 his duties were about to change. Moored astern was the Arizona, and when the Arizona exploded the stern of the Tennessee was engulfed by debris and burning oil. Edward was soon part of the quick thinking fire control parties that brought the blazing ship under control and saved her from destruction. He remained with the Tennessee for the remainder of the war.