McLean Bank President Remembers Uncle Aboard the U.S.S. Arizona

When we launched McLean Patch a year ago today, we published the story below. We bring it to you again because we think it captures the heroism, sacrifice and horror of World War II.

Edward W. Gosselin, 24, a U.S. Navy Reserve ensign, told his folks about his new promotion aboard the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 1, 1941.

He wrote them that he was now a division officer in charge of 90 men who ran the boilers, hydraulic machinery and fuel supply for one American's mightiest battleships. He'd sent his mom a lei for her birthday.

Three days later he was in rough seas  writing his youngest brother Jack. Lots of advice about college. Then this: "The war situation looks a little tense right now, particularly out here in the Pacific. I do not think, however, that we will see any action in the near future. Japan seems to be playing the old game of doing a little bluffing and I think she'll back down a long way before going to war . . .  I think most of us out here would just as soon see a little excitement and get it over with."

Four days later, Ed Gosselin, was dead. One of 1,177 sailors killed when the Japanese sunk the Arizona. It was Sunday, Dec. 7, 194, 69 years ago today. The Japanese attacked  Pearl Harbor with 181 planes. In the first hour they had sunk three of the eight battleships and damaged all of them.

That smashing Japanese victory hurled the United States into World War II ---raging in Asia since 1937 and in Europe since 1939.

This is a story about the power of memory and remembrance. His memory, a picture of him in his uniform, his last letters home have been lovingly preserved in the office of his nephew — Peter Fitzgerald, president of McLean's Chain Bridge Bank.

Fitzgerald never knew his uncle, his mother's good-looking oldest brother. His mother was very small when he was killed.

"Not much is known about him," Fitzgerald said recently, surrounded by his uncle in his office on Laughlin Avenue. "We have these letters, the pictures and other paintings of him that were done after he was killed."

What is known is that a destroyer was built and named for him. "A lot of boys who died at Pearl Harbor had ships named after them," Fitzgerald said.

On Sept. 2, 1945, the USS Gosselin led a parade of American and British warships, including the USS Missouri, into Tokyo Bay for the formal surrender of the Japanese that ended World War II.

"They wanted a ship named after a boy who died at Pearl Harbor," Fitzgerald said.

A painting of the flotilla of ships, led by the Gosselin into Tokyo Bay, also hangs in the bank's offices. It was painted by  Michael Hegel, a military artist and brother of former Sen. Chuck Hegel (R-Neb), who lives in McLean.

"We'll probably be back in Pearl Harbor soon and I'll look forward to a short spell of enjoying myself on the beach. The car has helped us a lot in getting around and I'm beginning to find things quite pleasant on Oahu now. It certainly isn't a paradise out here with all this defense work going on, but when you get acquainted it's not so bad," Gosselin told his brother.

He didn't think he'd make it home to Connecticut for Christmas. He was right. He's still aboard the Arizona entombed with his shipmates.

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Bobbi Bowman Note:  I have visited the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. You stand on the memorial where World War II began and you can look over and see the USS Missouri when that terrible war ended in millions of lives later. Yes, you shed a tear.

If you see a World War II veteran today or any day — just thank them for saving the world.