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Birth and Early Life:
Eugene Brickley was born to Keith and Silvia Brickley of Fort Wayne, Indiana on May 28, 1922. The Brickley family relocated to Texas in the mid-1930s, and Eugene enlisted from there in 1940, shortly after his eighteenth birthday.
Enlistment and Boot Camp:
Brickley enlisted on July 31, 1940, and attended boot camp at MCRD San Diego. After completing his initial training, "Brick"Â was sent to the base Rifle Range, where he was under instruction as a marksmanship coach.
Wartime Service:
Private Brickley stayed at the San Diego range for several months before being reassigned. He joined the Marine detachment aboard the USS Arizona in 1941. An athletic youth, he was a member of Arizona's whaleboat rowing team, which defeated all challengers in 1941 until losing a championship race to rowers from the USS Pennsylvania.
The 1941 whaleboat rowing team. "Brick"Â is to the left of "Pop"Â in the rear row. Only two members of the team survived the sinking of the Arizona.
In a nod to his former duty as an instructor, Brick was also a member of the Arizona's competitive rifle and pistol marksmanship team.
Date Of Loss:
Private Brickley was killed on December 7, 1941, when the Arizona was sunk at Pearl Harbor.
Next Of Kin:
Mother, Mrs. Sylvia Brickley
To add to Mrs. Brickley's woes, a government snafu the following year caused quite an upset. The story was picked up by Walter Winchell's syndicated column in 1942.
Tucson Daily Citizen, June 6, 1942.
Status Of Remains:
Lost at sea.
Memorial:
Tablets of the Missing, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. USS Arizona Memorial.
Comments/Citation:
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Private Eugene Brickley, United States Marine Corps, Service Number: 290538
 Early Life
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Eugene Brickley was born on 28 May 1922 in Clarksville, Texas. Â His father Milo Keith Brickley, born 10 July 1902 in Huntington County, Indiana, died 28 December 1990, was an Equipment Operator in an electrical manufacturing plant. His mother, Sylvia Opal Finley was born on 24 October 1904 in Texas and died on 18 June 1999 in Smith County, Texas. Eugene's parents were married about 1922. Eugene was the eldest of two children in the family; he had one younger sister. Shortly after Eugene was born, his family moved from Texas to Fort Wayne, Indiana, then to Bluffton, Indiana and finally to Uniondale, Indiana. In 1940, he worked as a Car Washer.
 Military
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Eugene Brickley enlisted in the Marine Corps. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he was assigned to Marine Detachment of the USS Arizona which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He served on the ship's Whale Boat Rowing Team.
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At the onset of the December 7, 1941 attack, the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) was moored at berth Fox 7 on "Battleship Row." The repair ship Vestal (AR-4) was on the port side, and the starboard side faced the northeastern shore of Ford Island. Just before 8 am, the ship's air raid alarm sounded and the crew was ordered to general quarters. During the attack the battleship was struck by as many as eight aerial bombs, including one 1,700 lb. armor-piercing shell which penetrated the deck near the Number 2 turret and detonated in the smokeless powder magazine, causing a "cataclysmic explosion" that destroyed the ship forward and ignited a fire which burned for two days. Most of the Arizona crewmen who perished in the attack died instantly during the explosion. The ship quickly sank to the bottom of the harbor along with 1,177 of the 1,512 personnel on board, representing about half the total number of Americans killed that day.
 Death and Burial
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Eugene Brickley was declared Missing in Action, Lost At Sea, Non-Recoverable (Killed in Action) on 7 December 1941 aboard the USS Arizona during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii.
 Sources
 https://www.fold3.com/page/529993440/eugene-brickley
 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/638873162/eugene-brickley
 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/285693081/eugene-brickley
 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56116266/eugene-brickley
 https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=116226states.org) https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2324/images/32456_1220705235_0011-00878?pId=81688
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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen person's name and read his/her story.
If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please email me by clicking on my name. CDR Robert "Red" Mulvanny-Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars Â
