341

Keith [Jeffries].

Letter from a USS Arizona seaman who died on the ship at Pearl Harbor the next year.

U.S.S. Arizona, 1 April 1940
Autograph Letter Signed as "Keith" to friends "Ma, Dad, and Aunt Jane." 2 pages, 10½ x 7¾ inches, on U.S.S. Arizona illustrated letterhead; mailing folds, minimal wear.

"I don't condemn the Navy as much now as I used to. Just the first few weeks sure plays tough on the new 'boots.' . . . One fellow just up and took off. He never did show up again. . . . In time of war an act like that would mean death, and believe me, they don't fool around in Uncle Sam's Navy. So I guess you know this sailor won't go over the hill. . . . The baseball team is coming right along. . . . I expect to play when we get to Honolulu. I always wondered why Bing Crosby wanted to spend his vacations in Hawaii, so maybe now I'll find out. I was put on the anti-aircraft battery for a trial run last week. The mechanism involved is amazing. It really is interesting to operate a part of a gun. I honestly enjoy it. They say we'll be in the sea for 21 days before we arrive at Honolulu. I don't honestly know . . . whether we'll go straight to Pearl Harbor. . . . Six years is a long time, though, so I might as well make the best of it while I can, because you can rest assured I won't make the Navy my career. . . . Thanks, Ma, Dad, and Aunt Jane for your gift and card. . . . Say hello to Ruth for me." 

This letter was written to the parents of Ruth Stout of Monmouth Junction, NJ. We see three Keiths on the list of Arizona Pearl Harbor fatalities. Only one of them was from the east coast, Keith Jeffries (1918-1941). He was born on 29 March 1918, played high school baseball and basketball near Wilkes-Barre, PA, and then lived in Cranford and Plainfield, NJ from 1938 until enlisting in the Navy as a coxswain in 1940. The Central New Jersey Home News of 24 November 1939 reported that Mrs. and Mrs. Fred Stout, the letter recipients, hosted Keith Jeffries and other friends for dinner at their home in Monmouth Junction, NJ. Our letter writer thanks his correspondents for the recent birthday wishes on 1 April, and notes that he will play for the Arizona's baseball team when eligible. 

Jeffries was thought to be manning the Arizona's anti-aircraft guns when the ship exploded and sank at Pearl Harbor. His body was never recovered.

Provenance: found in the estate sale of Ruth Stout Rose (1921-2024), daughter of Frederick and Phebe Rose of Monmouth Junction, NJ; her aunt Jane Stout lived with them in 1930. 

With--an "Aloha Hawaii" patch and "Remember Pearl Harbor" sticker.

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