LIFE Magazine - A LA PUENTE WWII WAR HERO - ROBERT WEST was rescued the following day after one of the Oklahoma’s Chief Petty Officers entombed in the ship’s belly succeeded in swimming down through the sunken ship, coming out on the harbor bottom and miraculously making his way over the various obstacles to the surface of the harbor (he barely made it, the trip taking five and a half minutes underwater). After he was revived he told everyone about the sailors trapped deep inside the battleship’s hull in an air bubble. Boiler technicians and ship fitters went to work trying to penetrate the double hull of the battleship’s upturned bottom. By the afternoon of the following day (Dec 8th) they succeeded in penetrating the hull, only to lose the first two survivors as the air bubble vented before they men could be extracted. They changed tactics and managed to rescues 32 sailors, of which Robert West was one.
After being sent back to Philadelphia for additional training, Robert West met his future wife, and they were eventually blessed with seven daughters, settling in La Puente, where West owned his own interior décor business in West Covina (West Interiors). His daughters attended Catholic schools and MSAC. Full story and photographs on link below -
LIFE magazine decided to profile West for a feature article on the 25th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, in December 1966. (Provided by David Rogers)
The following link is a hi-res file - it takes about a minute to pull up - but worth the wait!
