Fireman First Class James C. Webb

November 26, 1918 ~ December 7, 1941

© Cooper Funeral Home

Submitted by: Terry Dudley

Fireman 1st Class James C. Webb, 23, of Hobart, Oklahoma, killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 29, 2019.

James was born on November 26, 1918 to Milton L. Webb and Emma L. Webb Millican in Hobart, Oklahoma.

Fireman 1st Class James Cecil Webb enlisted in the U.S. Navy on January 30, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas and reported for duty aboard the USS Oklahoma on June 13, 1940. As part of the effort to check Japanese aggression, the U.S. Pacific Fleet conducted exercises in the waters off of Hawaii beginning in May 1940. After the maneuvers, the fleet remained in Pearl Harbor, Oahu to provide more of a forward presence than was possible from the U.S. West Coast. USS Oklahoma (BB-37) arrived in Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1940, one year and one day prior to the fateful attack, and spent the next several months participating in exercises and conducting patrols.

On December 7, 1941, Webb was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize.

At the time of James’s passing his father, Milton L. Webb was deceased; and survivors included his mother, Emma L. Webb Millican; 2 brothers, Ralph and Edna Webb of Fresno, CA and Raymond and Inez Webb of Lone Wolf, OK; 5 sisters, Velma and O.W. Coffman of Alma, AR, Arrie “Dott” & Roy Ashworth of Oklahoma City, OK, Mildred and Kenneth Henderson of Amarillo, TX, Clara and Crate Evans of Hobart, OK and Leota and Asa Millican of Oklahoma City, OK. Today he is survived by numerous nieces and nephews, including his nephew and spouse, Bill and Addileen Ashworth of Shawnee, OK.

Webb’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Graveside Memorial Service will be 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at Dale Cemetery with nephew, Reverend Bill Ashworth and great-nephew, Lynn Ashworth officiating under the direction of Cooper Funeral Home of Tecumseh.

Please join the celebration of James’s life through Cooper Funeral Home’s Facebook page for live streaming of the service.