FC1c John Henry Bangert Jr.

John Henry Bangert Jr. was serving his second enlistment in the Navy when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Bangert graduated from Woodbury High School in southwestern New Jersey in June 1934 and enlisted in January 1936, when he was 19. He re-enlisted in January 1940.

He was a fire controlman and petty officer first class when he died on Dec. 7, 1941.

He was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 1, 1916 to John Henry and Frances E. Bangert. His father was a railroad clerk and later a credit clerk at a department store. His mother was a homemaker. The family moved east across but still near the Delaware River to Gloucester City, New Jersey by early 1930, and then about 4 miles southeast to Runnemede. The family was still there in October 1935. From September 1930 till his 1934 graduation the son attended nearby Woodbury High School.

A requiem Mass was said for Mr. Bangert Jr. at St. Henry’s Church in Philadelphia in February 1942. The church closed in 1993. His body was recovered and identified through dental records his father provided to the Navy. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl in Honolulu.