Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary: Idaho Falls daughter keeps survivor’s memory alive
Valerie Brigg’s lost her father William “Bill” Harten in 2004, but she still makes sure his memory as a Pearl Harbor survivor stays alive in her Idaho Falls home. “I’ve got everything but the trumpet, that’s at my brother’s house,” said Briggs. Harten grew up in Pocatello and graduated from Pocatello High School in 1940.
Harten’s legacy in Idaho begins long before he left for Pearl Harbor. In high school, Harten was a stand-out musician. He’s credited with composing the high school fight song. In his yearbook one of his class mates said “I hope you keep up with your music until you play in Artie Shaw’s orchestra. Just think, I could say I knew him when!”. Harten did play with Artie shaw, while he served in Pearl Harbor.
Harten joined the U.S. Navy in September of 1940 and was on the U.S.S West Virginia the day of the Pearl Harbor attack 75 years ago. Originally, Harten was assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona- the ship that became a total loss in the deadly attack. While Brigg’s looked at a picture of her father overseas she couldn’t help but notice his facial expression- looking deadpan, but more upset. “That was the day they took him off the Arizona and moved him to the West Virginia,” said Briggs.
Harten played the trumpet for the band in the military and studied music at the U.S. Navy School of Music in Washington D.C. “first and foremost he was a really sweet guy, but a musician at heart, “said Briggs about her father. Harten managed to escape out of the U.S.S. West Virginia when it got attacked through a cargo hatch. Briggs’ said her father also managed to save another man that same day.
Perhaps more telling of Bill’s character isn’t how he managed to survive Pearl Harbor and help out his fellow ship mates- but the love story with his wife- Jeane. Jeane also served in the Navy and was a musician. She was stationed in Florida and the pair wrote letters and sent telegrams to one another during the war “and I have those communications, every single one,” said Briggs.
Briggs’ collection of memorabilia is extensive, as she pulled what she called a “20 pound binder” documenting every single letter her mother and father wrote during the war. Brigg’s collection includes many photographs of her father documented by a photographer commissioned by the Navy. Among Briggs’ most prized posessions includes a collection of G.I. Joe dolls documenting the war time characters. One of the G.I. Joe dolls Brigg’s says looks exactly like her father. “When I told the creator he looked just like my dad and I showed up him a picture, he wrote the special note thanking my father for his service on the doll,” said Briggs.
Harten is among several Pearl Harbor survivors that lived in Idaho after the war. The following list we’ve compiled is from a congressional record of Mike Simpson honoring the survivors in 2001. Harold F. Beebe, Pocatello, Kaneohe NAS; Ralph Eaton, Twin Falls, USS
Henley; Richard Hansing, Twin Falls, USS Nevada; C.H. Harame,
Pocatello, USS Detroit; William Harten, Idaho Falls, USS West Virginia;
Pershing Hill, Idaho Falls, USS Nevada; Leroy J. Kohntopp, Filer, USS
Maryland; Gale D. Mohlenbrink, Buhl, USS Northampton; Patrick C.
O’Connor, Pocatello, Receiving Station, Pearl Harbor; Robert R. Olsen,
Chubbuck, Naval Hospital; Steve F. Phillips, Challis, Ford Island NAS;
David R. Roessler, Gooding, 24 SIG.; Tony Sabala, Jerome, 21st INF.;
Irvin A. Satterfield, American Falls, USS Argonne; Nicholaus Gaynos,
Post Falls, 407th SIG; Miles R. Gillespie, Nampa, 27th INF.; Roy
Hayter, Athol, USS Honolulu; Munith F. Higbee, Meridian, USS Phelps;
Don A. Irby, Boise, USS Maryland; Wallace R. Jacobs, Lewiston, USS
California; Dale E. Magnuss, Pinehurst, USS Cummings; James R. Mallory,
Boise, USS St. Louis; Ernest R. Mangrum, Boise, USS West Virginia;
Eugene N. McDonough, Boise, 24th INF.; Dallas F. Pohlmann, Boise, Pack
Train; Glenn R. Rosenberry, Caldwell, HQ 18th Bomb EG.; Carrol V.
Rowell, Boise, 2d Marie Air WG; Robert W. Arent, Nampa, USS Maryland;
Richard L. Artley, Lewiston, USS Oklahoma; Ray Aznavoorian, Post Falls,
USS Ontario; Conway B. Benson, Boise, USS Tennessee; Thomas A. Brown,
Boise, USS Phoenix; Frank A. Cannon, Orofino, USS Wasmuth; Robert A.
Coates, Nampa, USS Nevada; James R. Critchett, Silverton, Kaneohe, NAS;
Frank R. Dallas, Meridian, HQ 18th Bomb WG.
USS Ogalala; Harold M. Sr. Erland, Boise, HQ HAW.; Dan C. Fry, Banks,
Kaneohe; Horace E. Dresser, Caldwell, USS San Francisco; Raymond W.
Garland, Couer D’Alene; USS Tennessee; John R. Sandell, Kamiah, HQ 5th
Bomb GP; James K. Thomas, Boise; Franklin Elliott, Eagle.
