Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 296, Ed. 1 Monday, May 25, 2015 Page: 4 of 22
twenty two pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
NATIONAL
4A
Monday, May 25, 2015
Denton Record-Chronicle
Frustrated with Your
Current Hearing Aids?
Miracle-Ear Can Help!
*
P
r
i
i
- ,
-
*
*
jP
L
£
MiracleEar'
H
1
SAVE UP TO
2, oOOof
\
4
rM
j
Allen Breed/AP
Brad McDonald, left, and his sister, Colleen Williams, look through scrapbooks April 23 in Cary,
N.C. They have submitted DNA samples in hopes of identifying their uncle, Bert Jacobson, who
died on the USS Oklahoma during the Dec. 7,1941, attack at Pearl Harbor.
when you trade-in your current aids
Do your current hearing aids whistle?
Our hearing aids, with industry-leading GENIUS™ technology, feature one
of the most effective feedback cancellers on the market, while still
providing brilliant sound quality.
7 decades on, Pearl Harbor kin
seek new ID tests and closure
Do you feel like your current provider doesn't
genuinely listen to you or understand your needs?
Our hearing health professionals take pride in providing the Miracle-Ear
Experience at every visit. You can rest assured the professionals at
Miracle-Ear will listen to your needs, and offer you solutions that fit your
specific hearing loss, budget, and lifestyle.
Are your current hearing aids out-of-date,
bulky and sitting in a drawer?
Whether the fit or performance of your aids was
poor, or you had challenges with your provider,
we're here to help. For a limited time, we're offering
up to $2,000** in trade-in allowances, so schedule an
appointment, pull those old aids out of the drawer,
and we'll make you an offer! We offer 60+ hearing aid
models with many ultra discreet options, including the
100% INVISIBLE Mirage.
Does your current provider charge for basic hearing
services such as hearing tests, cleanings or adjustments?
At Miracle-Ear, we offer a lifetime of aftercare absolutely FREE,
including hearing aid checkups, cleanings, and adjustments.
dad was stuck with a set of or-
ders for the North Atlantic dur-
ing the winter, which wasn’t too
nice.”
the Punchbowl.
Soaked in oil and exposed to
the elements for two years, the
remains were bundled in mili-
tary blankets and placed into
caskets. Many gravesites have
multiple sets of remains in them,
a typical stone reading: “12 Un-
knowns, USS Oklahoma, Pearl
Harbor, December 7,1941.”
In 2003, about 100 sets of
Oklahoma remains were dug up
as part of another identification
effort, but it was unsuccessful. In
a letter to families last year, the
Department of the Navy sig-
naled its opposition to any fur-
ther exhumations.
Last month, however, the
Department of Defense pulled
rank and said the dis-interments
would proceed.
“The secretary of defense and
I will work tirelessly to ensure
your loved one’s remains will be
recovered, identified, and re-
turned to you as expeditiously as
possible, and we will do so with
dignity, respect and care,” Depu-
ty Secretary Bob Work told rela-
tives.
By Allen G. Breed
and Audrey McAvoy
Associated Press
CARY, N.C. — Dawn Silsbee
and her siblings never knew
their Uncle Bert — he died years
before they were bom. But they
saw what his loss did to their
family.
Jacobson and Jankowski
ended up on the USS Oklahoma,
a Nevada-class battleship com-
missioned in 1916.
The Japanese attacked on a
Sunday. According to shipmates
the siblings met at a USS Okla-
homa reunion, Jacobson had
spent the hours before the attack
helping ferry men to shore for
liberty. He’d been up all night
and had likely just turned in
when the Japanese planes
stmck.
“Our grandmother openly
wept, every year — every Dec. 7”
the North Carolina woman said.
■
‘And I think part of it was be-
cause she really didn’t know
where Bert was.”
Bert Jacobson’s family has al-
ways known the details of his
death: That he went down on
the USS Oklahoma during the
Japanese attack on Pearl Har-
bor. But his remains — and
those of more than 400 other
sailors and Marines who died on
the battleship that day — were
never identified, but were in-
stead commingled in a dormant
volcanic crater a few miles from
Pearl.
“Poor Bert died before he
knew there was a war going on,”
says McDonald.
When the first torpedo hit,
Harold Johnson, who worked in
the powder handling room for
No. 4 turret, was four levels
down, preparing to go ashore for
a date with a local woman.
“I’d just got out of the shower
and was in my skivvies and I was
shining my shoes,” he says, when
suddenly an alarm went off. “Ev-
erybody growled,” thinking it
was a drill on a Sunday — until
the division officer’s voice came
booming over the horn.
“It’s the real thing,” he shout-
Do you still have trouble hearing in noisy environments
like restaurants?
Miracle-Ear solutions feature technology such as VoiceTarget and Directional
Speech Enhancement that allow you to focus on the sounds you want to
hear, even in the most challenging environments or listening situation.
Now, nearly three-quarters of
a century after that day of “infa-
my,” their families might soon
get the closure Bert Jacobson’s
mother was denied.
Last month, the Department
of Defense announced plans to
exhume the Oklahoma remains
at the National Memorial Ceme-
tery of the Pacific in Honolulu,
commonly known as the Punch-
bowl. Work is expected to begin
in a few weeks, after the state
health department issues the
permits.
“We now have the ability to
forensically test these remains
and produce the identifications,”
says Debra Prince Zinni, a foren-
sic anthropologist and laborato-
ry manager at the Defense
POW/MIA Accounting Agency
in Hawaii. “They just did not
have the same capabilities back
in the ‘40s when these remains
were recovered.”
Past attempts to identify ca-
sualties of the Dec. 7,1941, attack
have ended in failure. And this
renewed effort has spawned a
debate over how best to honor
their sacrifice and, in effect,
whether these men belong to the
families or to the nation.
In a way, Silsbee and her sib-
lings — Bradley McDonald and
Colleen Williams — owe their
Uncle Bert everything.
During boot camp at Great
Lakes Naval Training Station,
Jacobson became fast friends
with O.C. McDonald, an orphan
from South Dakota. During a
visit to Bert’s home in Grayslake,
Illinois, “Mac” fell in love with
Jacobson’s sister, Norma.
“If he hadn’t brought my dad
home to meet his sister, my
mother, we — the three of us —
would not be here,” Williams
said as she balanced in her lap a
scrapbook dedicated to Bert and
her father.
At Navy tech school, Jacob-
son and McDonald formed one
half of a group of buddies that
called themselves “The Four
Musketeers.” The others were
Henry Ford II, grandson of the
car magnate, and Chet Jankow-
With dental and medical re-
cords, genetic material from rel-
atives, and modem techniques
and equipment, the government
lab “is prepared to begin this sol-
emn undertaking,” said Rear
Adm. Mike Franken, the agen-
cy’s acting director.
Over the next several
months, workers will open 45
graves containing a total of 61
caskets. The agency says the fo-
rensics could take up to five
years, with a success rate of 80
percent.
Jacobson’s nieces and neph-
ew gave DNA samples during an
event several years ago. Silsbee
wants to see this through for her
grandparents
mother, in particular — who had
Bert’s name etched between
theirs on a gravestone back in Il-
linois.
Memorial Day Giveaway! Free 8 pack of batteries to Veterans or active mil-
itary. We will also check and clean your hearing aids regardless of make or
model. Thank you for your service!
One per person. Does not apply to rechargeable batteries. Good through 5/29/15
ed.
As he mshed to his battle sta-
tion, Johnson could feel the ship
begin to list. He got up the ladder
and out the hatch just as the sea
began rushing in.
The following day, several of
Johnson’s gun crew were cut out
by rescue workers. Other survi-
vors’ tapping on the hull could be
heard for more than two weeks,
but they could not be reached.
The Oklahoma was hit by at
least nine torpedoes. A total of
429 men on the ship that day
lost their lives.
Engineers didn’t refloat the
battleship until November 1943.
Remains recovered during the
salvage operation were initially
interred as unknowns at two
nearby cemeteries.
The Oklahoma graves were
reopened in 1947, and dental
comparisons conducted on the
remains. But after proposed
identifications for 27 of the un-
knowns were disapproved, all
the remains were re-interred at
If you answered YES to any of these questions,
there's no better time to trade-in and trade-up
to Miracle-Ear- SAVE UP TO $2,000**!
$795
(
4
her grand-
Audiotone® Pro Special Price
I_
*Umit one aid per patient at the promotional price this week only. Not valid
with any other discount or offer. Does not apply to prior purchases.
Offer expires 05-29-2015.
‘As she didn’t have closure
and didn’t know where he was,
we would like to have that,” Sils-
bee says, sitting beneath a color
print of the Oklahoma in its pre-
attack glory. “Because we re-
member all those years of her be-
ing so unhappy on Dec. 7th, and
how this perhaps would bring
that closure to all of us.”
TRADE-IN VALUE
up to $2000 *off
Miracle-Ear Hearing Aids
OFFER EXPIRES 05-29-2015.
Don't waste another minute; this offer won't last long!
Call and schedule your FREE appointment today.
SHOPPING SURVEY
Enter to Win $2,000
7/v,.Miracle-In
w
Pulse of America research
Cash prize will be awarded
Miracle-Ear Center
2317 W University Dr, Ste 107
Denton, TX 76201
940-293-2049
Jo
ski.
When training was through
and assignments were handed
out, Jacobson and Jankowski
couldn’t believe their luck — and
couldn’t wait to mb it in.
“They came up waving their
orders in their hand and waving
them in the face of my father say-
ing, We got paradise. We’re go-
ing to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii,”’
says Brad McDonald. “And my
Site
/1Miracle-Ear
Foundation
We are a proud sponsor of the Miracle-Ear Foundation Gift of Sound
program. We make a donation for every purchase to help local children
and adults hear better!
To entei' now, go to:
www.puisepoll.com
:Off SRP when you trade-in your current hearing aids towards the purchase of a pair of Miracle-Ear ME-1 or ME-2
Pulse Res
Solution hearing aids. Valid at participating Miracle-Ear locations only. Not valid with any other discount or offer.
Does not apply to prior purchases.
REHF3
irHc
C2
Promo Code: 15TM053M
DN-1416150-01
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 296, Ed. 1 Monday, May 25, 2015, newspaper, May 25, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124934/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .