CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Ellen Czerwenka, widow of Pearl Harbor survivor Adolph "Ski" Czerwenka, tossed flowers into Pearl Harbor yesterday after his ashes were scattered near the wreckage of the USS Utah. Looking on were Navy Capt. Ronald Cox, left, and Czerwenka's son-in-law, Tom Hodnett.
Pearl Harbor veteran is
returned to his shipmates
Retired Navy Cmdr. Adolph "Ski" Czerwenka, "a Pearl Harbor survivor and an American hero," returned "home" to be with his shipmates yesterday.
In reviewing Czerwenka's life and his experiences during the 1941 Japanese attack, Jim Taylor, the Navy's funeral honors coordinator, said: "Ski was a good man who cherished his family and who constantly put others before himself. His first love, though, was always the Navy."
Yesterday, Czerwenka's ashes were scattered near the wreck of the battleship USS Utah by Petty Officer Carl Christian.
Czerwenka was stationed aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, which was moored with other warships along battleship row on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Utah. One of his shipmates, Richard Fiske, played Taps as the American flag flapped in the breeze.
In delivering the eulogy yesterday Taylor explained that Czerwenka got the nickname "Ski" following the attack.
"He was in a line of survivors being assigned jobs and was asked his name," Taylor said. "Czerwenka was too hard to handle so he was called Ski instead. Ski stayed with him for the rest of his life."
In a 1999 Newsweek interview, Czerwenka said that as a 22-year-old radioman third class when the Japanese attacked: "I didn't have time to be afraid. There was too much to be done."
Tom Hodnett, Czerwenka's son-in-law, said his father-in-law enlisted in 1939 when he found he couldn't afford to continue his studies at UCLA even with a swimming scholarship.
On Dec. 7, 1941, he was in the West Virginia's petty officer's washroom when the first of seven 18-inch Japanese torpedoes and at least two 15-inch armor piercing bombs smashed into the superstructure of the battleship. The "Wee Vee" had been moored outboard of the USS Tennessee at Ford Island's Fox-6 pier.
Taylor said Czerwenka ran to his battle station in the transmitter room to try to get the ship's communications going. But within 30 minutes the West Virginia began listing to port and all its lights were extinguished.
Czerwenka later recalled that as he got on deck to respond to the abandon ship order, the USS Arizona exploded. Czerwenka slid down the port deck and into the water. When an empty launch drifted by, Czerwenka climbed in and began fishing survivors out of the oil and fire that was everywhere.
"Japanese torpedo planes were flying right over us," Czerwenka told Newsweek, "strafing and dropping torpedoes. One pilot was so close I could see the big smile on his face. Boy was I angry. I switched to a whaleboat and we picked up more survivors."
Czerwenka didn't realize until later in the day, after making several runs with wounded survivors, that in the heat of the attack he had run to his battle station wearing absolutely nothing, Taylor said. Minutes before the attack began Czerwenka had been in the washroom naked because of the heat from washing uniforms.
Czerwenka remained in the Navy for 31 1/2 years, earning a commission in March 1944. He retired as a commander in July 1971.
Czerwenka died on Sept. 14, 2002, just a few days after his 84th birthday, in Alexandria, Va., and always wanted to be buried at Pearl Harbor.
"The Navy was his life," Hodnett said. "He was active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors' Association, serving at one time as the president of the Virginia chapter. Any place the Pearl Harbor survivors went, he followed."
Hodnett said Czerwenka made numerous trips to Hawaii with the last being in 2001.
Of the Pearl Harbor attack, Czerwenka told Newsweek, "the thing that impressed me the most about the whole thing was that in the midst of all that surprise and confusion and destruction, everybody was doing their jobs, what they'd been trained to do."
