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RM3c Wesley Horner Jr. Bishop
Fifty-five years after his death at Pearl Harbor, Wesley Horner Bishop Jr.’s hometown of Moorestown, New Jersey, named a park in his memory.
A former commander of the local American Legion Post 42, Wendell Phillips, pushed for the honor and spoke with friends of Mr. Bishop.
“He loved to go fishing at the Shore but he would get seasick. In spite of that he wanted to join the Navy,” Phillips told a reporter.
Mr. Bishop was born Oct. 4, 1920 to Wesley and Margaret Bishop. The father was a superintendent at a water works and the mother a homemaker.
The son graduated from Moorestown High School in 1939 and worked as a truck driver for a wholesale auto parts business until he enlisted in the Naval Reserve in October 1940.. He wrote “education in radio” as the reason he signed up. He was sent to a Navy radio school in Connecticut until called to active duty in April 1941. Mr. Bishop was a radioman and petty officer third class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Mr. Bishop’s high school honored his memory by selling a record $361.25 in defense stamps on a single day in the spring of 1942. Stamps, in denominations as low as 10 cents, helped pay for the war.
Sources: the Courier-Post of Camden, New Jersey; the Cherry Hill (New Jersey) News; The Morning Post of Camden, New Jersey; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; 1942 Moorestown High yearbook. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
NOTE: If you are a family member related to this crew member of the U.S.S. Arizona, or have additional information, pictures or documents to share about his life or service to our county please contact us through our FAMILY MEMBER SUBMISSION FORM.