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Remember...Bernard Ramon Wimmer
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When President Roosevelt uttered these words in a Fireside Chat in 1940, it appeared that he was advocating that the U.S. stay out of the war, which had begun in Europe the previous year. Four years earlier (in 1936), Bernard Ramon Wimmer had enlisted in the United States Navy. Unlike many of his fellow seaman at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wimmer was no longer a youth.
Bernard Ramon Wimmer was born on October 13, 1912, at Princeton, Mercer County, West Virginia, and his residence was in Rock, Mercer County. His birth record lists his middle name as Raymond, but subsequent public records (for example, a muster roll from the USS Oklahoma) list Ramon. Bernard's parents were Sidney Harrison and Eva Jane Morehead Wimmer. Sidney was a farmer or farm manager. U.S. Federal Census records from 1920 and 1930 show that Bernard was part of a large family, his older siblings being Ruth A. and Lawrence S. Wimmer. By 1930, the family had grown to include Robert, Evelyn (married name: Smith), Mary Virginia (married name: Sargent), Bernice June (married name: Cunningham), Edward Lake, and Carl Harlan Wimmer. The 1940 census shows Bernard living in Washington, D.C., and working in the U.S. Navy Yard Receiving Station. He also indicated to the census taker that he had completed four years of high school.
Between the spring of 1940, when the census would have been taken, and December of 1941, Bernard Ramon Wimmer found himself as a fire controlman, 1st class, in Hawaii on the USS Oklahoma.
| What happened next is of course history. The USS Oklahoma was moored on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked. Sitting aside the USS Maryland, she was struck by three torpedoes. The first and second hits occurred about 7:56, with the third coming at 8:00. About eighty men scrambled to man the anti-aircraft guns on deck, but were unable to use them. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship?s waterline or sought shelter in the third deck. The third torpedo hit penetrated the hull. Then two more torpedoes struck, while the Japanese continued strafing. All told, there were as many as eight torpedo hits. The ship then rolled over. While surviving crew members went over to the Maryland, 429 members of the crew were killed or were missing. Others were wounded, and some were trapped within the capsized hull. Rescue operations were able to save a number of men who had been trapped for hours, although ultimately the ship sank. West Virginian FC1C Bernard Ramon Wimmer was one of the ill-fated 429. |  Battleship Row after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37) is visible the foreground; behind her is USS Maryland (BB-46). USS West Virginia (BB-48) burns furiously on the right. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID #295984 |
 More than 28,000 Americans that gave their lives in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War are memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. American Battle Monuments Commission |
When the "Okie" was raised and the bodies of her dead crew were removed, only a few were identifiable and could be sent home for military funerals. Bernard Ramon Wimmer was never sent home. Remains of the unidentified were buried in mass graves at the Pacific National Cemetery in Honolulu. |
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
June 2019
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
