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One Danville Grandmother’s Pearl Harbor Remembrances
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By Joanne Grabowsky, Resident since 1971
Would you believe that a faulty ship’s whistle on the USS Arizona saved my future husband’s life?
My future husband, Leon Grabowsky, was a brand-new Ensign just before the Japanese attack. His Naval Academy class, accelerated for WWII, graduated in February 1941. His first duty station: USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
Leon was assigned to engineering and given several undesirable duties. One was maintaining the 25-year-old ship’s continually-failing whistle, which the Captain loved. The skipper would cuss whenever it didn’t work. Leon then had to crawl through noxious fumes in a smoke stack where it lived to repair the whistle.
Leon was a bachelor then, and loved surfing. Whenever he had liberty he would surf with the natives. However, an Admiral there would wake the ensigns up at 5AM for readiness training and hard, morning workouts of running and swimming. The hard workouts, coupled with surfing, lack of sleep and noxious fumes caused Leon to come down with pneumonia that May. It took months to heal.
Ensign Leon Grabowsky USN 1941
In August, Leon uncharacteristically failed a physical, causing concerns about kidney function. Although he was fine, Leon had to endure weeks of medical tests. When nothing was found, the doctors were flabbergasted. Finally, a urologist determined he had a “harmless” overactive prostate. He returned with this report, which failed to be logged.
Three months later on December 6th, 1941, the skipper received orders for a physical to determine whether Leon could “stay in the Navy.” Instead of protesting this, the skipper gave him liberty to resolve it.
Leon reported to the hospital, but all doctors were out playing golf. He was told they’d do the physical come morning, so he asked to bunk there. He then went to Waikiki to surf and party.
Leon awoke to bombs on the Day of Infamy. He helped with wounded; many were his Naval Academy classmates. With another officer, he commandeered a launch. Leon even swam through burning oil, but found no survivors. The last thing they did that evening was recover the Colors from the stern, which was momentarily above waterline. Leon lowered the flag into the other officer’s arms.
Leon Grabowsky was one of the men who lowered the Colors from the USS Arizona before it sank completely.
Leon was the only surviving member of his division, and one of only 335 crew members who survived, while 1177 perished. If not for this chain of bizarre circumstances that kept him disembarked, Leon also would have perished.
Following this, Leon fought bravely in all major Pacific battles. He became the youngest destroyer commander ever, at 27 years old, and in Okinawa won the Navy’s highest honor, the Navy Cross, by saving a sister destroyer.
I think of Leon every day. He passed away in 2000 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery, the only location that may be more solemn than the USS Arizona Memorial. These heroic men risked everything so we can enjoy life and freedoms that many take for granted. Freedom isn’t free. On Pearl Harbor Day, please remember that this is the land of the free BECAUSE of the Brave, and honor them accordingly.
