Project 888
Name: Earl P. PROCAI
Rank / Rating: BUGLER 2-Bugler Second ClassService #: 757 82 16 DOB: Nov 25, 1925 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Parents: Anthony and Marie Procai Went Aboard: April 7, 1944 Age When Kamikaze Struck: 19 years, 4 months, 6 days Spouse: Children: Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Deanna Perchyshyn (Niece) |
 PROCAI, Earl P |
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Earl Procai was born on November 25, 1925, to Anthony and Marie Procai in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He had three older sisters: Olga, Johanna and Luba. His Ukrainian family was artistic as well as physically fit. Earl belonged to the Ukrainian Folk Ballet and danced Ukrainian dances, giving many performances throughout the region. At one large show at the Shubert Theater, Amelia Earhart was a guest speaker. Earl was elected to give her flowers and had the honor of meeting the famous aviator.
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 Earl attended Sheridan Elementary School and Edison High School m Minneapolis. He loved to play the piano which he learned by ear and he and his friends, Corny Kist and Boris Pylatiuk, even recorded some songs. When Earl was a young boy, he and his sister, Luba, found a beautiful, hand carved coffee table with a glass top at Cashway Furniture store. They saved their money and paid a small the table in full and were so happy they could bring home a Christmas present for their mom and dad.
Around the time Earl was eleven years old, he rode in a soap box derby and won a medal. Always the adventurous one, he and his friend, Boris, hitchhiked to New York City to visit his sister, Johanna, and her husband, Theodore, when Earl was a teenager.
He joined the Navy at his earliest opportunity and his friends remember the way he loved to tease people and joke around a lot. A friend and fellow bugler from the Navy, Glenn Morgan, remembers Earl as a fine young gentleman. Earl and Donald F. Mack, another bugler, came on the ship three months after Glenn Morgan and Calvin Ball Emory. Glenn got to know Earl very well because at first, Earl didn't know all the calls. They would go to the steering aft to practice. The steering aft was an area in the stern of the ship where the mechanism that moved the rudder was housed. There was lots of noise there but they could take their bugles and practice the calls. The buglers had different assignments. Glenn stood watch on the bridge and Earl was in a different area. Every morning, the ship had "general quarters" where everyone would go to their battle stations until they received the all clear.
On the morning, March 31, 1945, Earl was not on deck when the ship was returning from Kerama Retto, a small group of islands fifteen miles west of the southern part of Okinawa. The islands had been taken by the United States military and were considered secure. Inside the islands was a large bay where the ships would gather. There had been an excursion to the islands the day before the invasion of Okinawa.
Suicide plane attacks could happen anytime, but seemed most prevalent early in the morning. "Condition One" in the antiaircraft batteries was generally set at that time. I find time, no bogeys (suicide planes) were observed by radar, then condition three was set in the anti-aircraft batteries. "Condition three" meant that gunners manned the guns but they were not the regular assigned personnel used for that purpose. On the return trip to Okinawa, a light overcast prevailed. Glenn Morgan had taken his position on the bridge when without a warning a Japanese suicide plane bursts through the overcast screaming towards the bridge. It then seemed to level off somewhat and then dived into the stern area of the ship on the port side. The crumpled plane and a pilot were quickly pushed over the side by four personnel stationed in that area. The damage had been done. An armor piercing bomb continued to plow through the various decks exiting the bottom of the ship and never exploding until it struck one of the four shafts that drove the four screws or propellers. This caused an imploding action on the hull, opening large holes in the steel plate, thus allowing water to quickly enter the ship. Eight men died immediately but Earl was pulled from one of the hatches just before it was closed and lived only five minutes before passing on.
After the impact, of course, they had to close the hatches immediately to keep the ship from sinking. The ship returned to Kerama Retto where it took approximately seven days to patch the ship and find the bodies of the other eight men who were killed in the attack. Calvin Ball Emory was the other bugler who perished on that day.
Earl was taken in a landing craft for his burial at Kerama Retto where Glenn Morgan played taps for him. Four quarter masters were killed and two buglers, (*six of the Nan Division) as well as three men from different divisions.
Another memory that Glenn has of his fellow bugler is the bushing piece that Earl gave him. Glenn took his cornet on the ship that was purchased for $91.00 by his brother when Glenn was in high school. Glenn was drafted after he got out of high school and always used a mouthpiece but Earl gave him a bushing that could fit into either a trumpet or a cornet. He kept it all these years. Glenn and Earl served together on the USS Indianapolis for about a year before Earl's death.
Addition by Admin:
After the war, families were given the opportunity to request that the remains of their loved one be returned to the US for reinterment.
Procai was re-interred at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., MN, on May 19, 1949 - Section C-3, Grave 7924.
Source:
Washington, DC, Quartermaster General's Office, Record of Re-Internment; citing Ft. Snelling National Cemetery
Star Tribune, (Minneapolis, MN), Wed, May 18, 1949, p. 12; citing reburial
The Minneapolis Star, Wed, May 18, 1949, p. 25; citing reburial
Minnesota Daily Times, (Minneapolis), Fri, June 22, 1945, p. 13; citing KIA
Earl was honored in VOICES OF THE LOST AT SEA program in 2018.
Click on VOICES OF THE LOST AT SEA to view from Time Stamp 22:22 - 26:01.
Click or tap here to learn more about the kamikaze attack and to access links to each of the nine individual bios of the kamikaze victims.
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