Jessie A. Mahaffey, shown in an undated photo, survived the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and died March 1, 2025, in Louisiana at age 102. (Pacific Historic Parks)
Jessie A. Mahaffey, one of the last remaining survivors of the sinking of the USS Oklahoma during the 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, died March 1 in Alexandria, La. He was 102.
The Oklahoma capsized and sank within minutes of the Sunday morning attack, killing 429 crew members.
With Mahaffey’s death, only two survivors of the Oklahoma are known to be living, according to a tally maintained by Kathleen Farley, president of the California chapter of Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
By that same tally, only 14 veterans who survived the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack are still alive.
Jessie Alton Mahaffey was born Nov. 23, 1922, in Florien, La., according to an obituary posted online by Warren Meadows Funeral Home in Many, La.
Mahaffey joined the Navy in the summer of 1941 after graduating high school in Louisiana. After attending boot camp in San Diego, he was assigned to the Oklahoma.
On the morning of the attack, he was preparing for an inspection when Japanese torpedo bombers attacked the Oklahoma, he told KTBS-TV in Shreveport in a Dec. 7 interview.
He and five other sailors were scrubbing the battleship’s wooden deck using abrasive holystones attached to broomsticks, he said.
“It was a quiet Sunday, and we had the day off except for the yearly admiral inspection,” he told the TV station. “Then we heard a siren, saw planes and smoke. It must have only gone on for 45 minutes, but it was crazy.”
Japanese planes immediately targeted the Oklahoma, and it was struck by three torpedoes within 10 minutes. As it began to capsize, two more torpedoes slammed into it, and crew members were strafed as they abandoned ship.
“It turned upside down and we had to slide over the bottom of the ship into the water,” he recollected in the interview.
He swam to and boarded the USS Maryland, which was moored beside the Oklahoma.
Mahaffey was later assigned to the cruiser USS Northampton, and he once again cheated death when it was sunk Nov. 30, 1942, during the Battle of Tassafaronga in the Solomon Islands.
The Northampton was part of a cruiser-destroyer force tasked with preventing Japanese reinforcements from reaching Guadalcanal.
Two Japanese torpedoes ripped open the Northampton, and within three hours the crew was forced to abandon the sinking ship.
“The ship was sunk at midnight, and we had to stay on rafts the whole night,” he said in the interview.
Mahaffey left the Navy when the war ended in 1945, returning to Louisianna where he worked for the phone company for 30 years.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce, and is survived by two sons. His funeral will be held March 8 at Warren Meadows Funeral Home.
