“We were listening to the radio and an announcement came from President Roosevelt that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor… I was just into the 12th grade and at that moment there was just a state of shock…,” recalled Fire Controlman Second Class Robert Somrak to the United States Navy Memorial film crew at the USS Missouri Reunion in the fall of 2013. Somrak began his interview with memories of hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He recollected, “When I finished high school, I got drafted and was fortunate enough to be selected to go in the United States Navy, thank God.” After receiving his training at Naval Station Great Lakes, he was sent to Schenectady, New York and was trained to operate hydraulic regulators that moved turrets. Following his training, he was ordered to the Commissioning of the Battleship USS Missouri. He recounted, “When I got to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and first went aboard the ship I said, ‘Oh my God where am I going to find myself.’” Somrak’s service would lead directly into harm’s way when the USS Missouri was ordered into the Pacific. 

“During the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaign, we had to contend with lots of Kamikazes. One of the Kamikazes crashed directly into our ship," reported Somrak. He shared with vivid detail his account of the day the USS Missouri was hit by a Japanese suicide dive. He shared, "I was in gun turret three, we were in general quarters, so gun turret three is not assigned to firing at airplanes… When we were in gun turret three, my buddies and I were playing cards… We heard the 5 inches go off, then we heard the 40 millimeters…but when we heard the 20 millimeters then we kind of paused and said, ‘uh oh pretty close’.  When the plane crashed into our ship I was behind 8 inches of solid steel…No one on the gun mount was injured...when general quarters was over…I saw the wreckage of the plane, the Japanese pilot was decapitated...our Skipper, Captain Callahan, gave the Japanese pilot a hero’s funeral.” Somrak would also witness the Japanese suicide dive on the USS Franklin.

Somrak served on the USS Missouri throughout her entire World War II service and post war cruises into the late 1940’s. To hear Fire Controlman Second Class Robert Somrak’s story come alive, view his detailed experience that has been digitally archived by the Navy Memorial. 

The United States Navy Memorial honors Fire Controlman Second Class Robert Somrak, featured within the series titled, Stories of Service, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial.