Biography of Alvin Albert Dvorak
Alvin Albert Dvorak
US Navy, USS Arizona
BM2c, Service No.
328-51-60
Research
done by Al Johnson, member of the Pine County Genealogical Society.
Al had the opportunity to attend
the 73rd Anniversary Reunion at Pearl Harbor on
December 7,
2014 and again in 2016 for the 75th Anniversary.
Alvin Albert Dvorak was a Pine County
sailor who lost his life in
December 1941 as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack.
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Alvin was born on the 3rd of April 1917 in Tripp
County South Dakota. On January 13th
the following year, his mother, Emma (Mach) Dvorak succumbed to Spanish
flu. Four days later his father, Joseph,
died from the dreaded disease. Alvin
moved to Minnesota to live with his Aunt Mary (Mach) and Uncle Joseph
Kvasnicka. In 1930, Alvin was living
with his Grandmother and Grandfather, John and Barbara Mach on a farm still
owned by the Kvasnicka family. Alvin
made the front page of the Askov American newspaper with his fellow classmates
in May 1931. He was one of three
students with perfect attendance in the six student Pleasant Hill School near
Kerrick. Four
of his five classmates were also his first cousins.
The newpaper photograph is the only know photograph of Alvin. It is
unknown how
long Alvin stayed with his grandparents, but, in 1937 he was living in
Stillwater and working as a farm hand when he applied to join the Navy on 12 November 1937 in
Minneapolis,
MN where his guardian, Casper Heaser
(brother-in-law)
signed for him. He
was accepted and inducted into the Navy on 2 March 1938, in
Minneapolis.
At the time, he was 5’8¼” tall and weighed 162
pounds and had brown hair and
blue eyes. He reported on board the USS Arizona on July 9,
1938. Alvin progressed in rank from Seaman 2nd class,
to
Coxswain, to Boatswain Mate 3rd Class and finally to
Boatswain Mate
2nd Class prior to December 7th.
On December 7th,
1941, the USS Arizona was moored on the inboard (shore) side while the USS Vestal,
a repair ship, was tied up outboard of them.
Therefore, the Arizona could not be damaged by torpedoes and therefore
had to be bombed from above. At about
8:06 an armor piercing bomb was released from a Japanese plane at about 10,000
feet. About a minute later the bomb
pierced the deck of the Arizona between the two forward 16” guns and exploded
in the forward ammunition magazine. The
explosion lifted parts of the 32,000 ton ship thirty feet in the air. The ship was fully
loaded with 1.3 million
gallons of heavy oil for firing the ship big boilers, as it was to leave port the next morning. The oil burned for two and a half days and there
were still 0.5 million gallons left to slowly leak out of the ship, called the "tears of the sailors". The attack started about 07:52 and shortly
after there were six men at their battle stations on the Port Side A/A (Anti-Aircraft)
Director, which is about 40 feet above the main deck. They were: Fred Lomax, officer in charge,
Lauren Bruner, Alvin Dvorak, Fred “Zeke” Zimmerman, Don Stratton, and Russell
Lott. Zeke,
a North Dakota native, was standing at the entrance hatch when the
explosion threw him across the room hitting the bulkhead and was
immediately killed. Ensign Lomax had gone below to see why they
weren’t getting ammunition and was never seen again. Earl Reiner from the Starboard A/A Director
joined them as did Harold Kuhn, a big gun lookout. So six men were stranded in the Port A/A
Director and the ship was burning below them blocking their escape. Although
they were 40 feet above the main deck, they were also thirty feet or more from
the edge of the ship. Listening to screams, they witnessed others
unsuccessfully trying to leap that distance to safety from other elevated areas. It’s hard to imagine their thoughts and
feelings as they saw their fellow shipmates below them on the main deck with
their clothing burnt off, their skin charred, and looking like zombies. .
Of the six, only Kuhn didn’t
have any wounds, but all the rest had significant wounds. Don Stratton was burned over 50% of his body;
Lauren Bruner was burned over 74% of his body and some shrapnel wounds and he spent
seven months recovering in the hospital. Alvin Dvorak was burnt over 82%
of his body. The
story of how they survived is a testament to their courage and mental
strength.
Alvin Dvorak, among artillery noise, explosions and heavy
smoke, was able to get the attention of Joseph George on board the USS
Vestal. Joe threw a “heavie”, small rope
with a weighted monkey fist on the end, which allowed for a long accurate
throw. Then a 1 ½” rope was snaked over
to the Port A/A Director from the Vestal and tied off. Lauren asked Alvin what kind of knott he was
going to tie, to which Alvin replied, “Damn well not a slip knot!” To me this shows the character of the person
who can make a joke while severely burned and among the great calamity around
them. Kuhn was the first person to hand
walk across the line sixty feet above the water in order to test the line. The water 60 feet below the line was on fire
from the oil burning on the surface. Below
them were dead sailors and others who abandoned ship who were struggling to
stay afloat by splashing the heavy oil away from them. There weren’t many who
were successful. The second to leave was
Don Stratton, who had his last skin graft due to the burns
in 1991, fifty years after Pearl Harbor!
As Lauren was about to get on the line he saw Joseph George arguing with
someone and had picked up a fire axe. Joseph
yelled, “Hurry up I can’t hold the ship much longer”. Alvin insisted Lauren go ahead of him as he
wanted to make sure his knot held and he wa the most severely injured.
Lauren Brunner had severe burns on his hands, yet he was able to hand over hand
walk across the line. He was struggling
the last fifteen feet, so much so that he had to put his feet up over the rope
to help him make it to the USS Vestal. For
months in the hospital, they would soak his hands in brine and then peel off
the dead skin and bathe them in alcohol.
What pain and perseverance!
The argument Joseph George was
having on the Vestal was over an order he was given to cut the line bringing
the survivors over to the Vestal. The
order was placed because the Vestal was untied from the mooring and drifting away
from the Arizona. Thankfully, he refused the order. The survivors felt the refusal to cut the
line is the only reason he didn’t get the Congressional Medal of Honor.
On 7 December 2017, Rear Admiral Matthew Carter, deputy commander of
the US Pacific Fleet, presented the Bronze Star with "V" Device for
Valor for Chief Boatswain's Mate Joseph "Joe" Leon George to George's
daughter Joe Ann Taylor, aboard the USS Arizona Memorial.
Alvin
Dvorak was transferred to the hospital ship, USS Solace, and then to
the USSAT Collidge for tranfer to the Mare Island Naval Hospital in San
Francisco Bay. Unfortunately, he passed away on Christmas Eve Day
the day before the ship reached port. His body was sent to
Minnesota where it was claimed by his brother in-law,Casper
Heaser. Alvin was laid to rest in the Fort Snelling
National Cemetery in Minneapolis on New Year's Day.
USS Arizona
December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack
USS Arizona memorial aerial view
USS Arizona Memorial Pearl Harbor
View Alvin Albert Dvorak's memorial on Findagrave
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