Painter First Class Fred Eernisse smiles in a photo on a U.S. Navy ship he served on. He sent this photo home to family.

North Bend has Pearl Harbor tie

by Mary Le Arneal
Published 12/7/22

The Eagle’s 2010 Veterans Day issue honored area men who had died in service to our country. One of the listed names was William Fredrick Eernisse. He was one of 22 Nebraskans who died at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, with the sinking of the USS Arizona. His hometown was listed at North Bend, Nebraska.

However, initial research did not show any Eernisses in the area. So how did North Bend get to claim Eernisse as one of its own?

An internet search revealed a Eernisse family in Fairhope, Alabama. In 2009 a marker was put in the Fairhope Cemetery between his parents and grandparents markers commemorating Fred, as his family called him. Doris Allegri, a board member at the Daphne Heritage Museum in Fairhope, knew of the family and got this reporter in touch with his niece, Patsy Miller. This was in 2015.

Patsy, the daughter of Fred’s youngest sister Mae, was 11 when her uncle Fred was killed. Eernisse, 32 at the time, was a Painter First Class in the U.S. Navy stationed aboard the Arizona. He died with 1,177 of his shipmates, 941 of them still entombed on the Arizona.

Eernisse’s wife in California was notified by the Navy. Originally California was listed as his home state. His family thought some form of recognition needed to be given to him in Fairhope since he grew up in Alabama, which led to the headstone between his parents and grandparents.

But what about North Bend?

It was first thought that his wife was from this area, but that was a dead end. She was from the West Coast.

The first three digits of Eernisse’s service number reveal that he enlisted in Omaha. These numbers were used by the National Pearl Harbor Survivors Association to complete a list titled “Nebraskans who died at Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941 Nebraska Home Town.” The Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation used this list to create a roll of sailors who died on the U.S.S. Arizona as the basis for The Pearl Harbor Remembrance Scholarship.

William Fredrick Eernisse was born July 27, 1909, in Dayton, Iowa, to John and Maude (Stott) Eernisse. The Stott family moved frequently around Iowa and Nebraska and lived for a time in Stanton County. Maude had at least two sisters and three brothers: Arthur, Herman and Walter. The Stott brothers eventually came to live in the North Bend area where they spent most of their lives. There are many references to the Stott family in the 2006 North Bend History Book.

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