The new bridge being finished between Kramer and Newburg is being named after Navy Seaman First Class Earl Nermoe.  TO LEARN MORE

Earl Nermoe was born in Upham, North Dakota on 1 June 1919. Earl was the son of Peter J. Nermoe and Hilda Johnson Nermoe of Deep, North Dakota. He was baptized and confirmed at the Deep River Scandinavian Lutheran Church.  He attended school at Deep and High School in Kramer.   

After his training Earl was assigned as a gunner on the Colorado class battleship USS West Virgina BB-48, which was moored in Battleship Row at Peal Harbor.  At just before 8:00 AM on 7 December 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter aircraft and bombers, and several submarines launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the first of two waves. The American forces were caught completely unawares, leading to mass devastation. The aircraft and submarines consistently pounded the naval base, resulting in the deaths of over 2,400 Americans, of which 2,335 were servicemen. Over 300 aircraft were damaged, while the majority of the vessels stationed there were either damaged or completely destroyed. Earl Nermoe was seriously wounded during the attack, and he along with four other seriously injured sailors were transferred from the USS West Virginia to the USS Tennessee. Eventually, he was moved the Ford Island which was the location of the naval base hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.  He was one of 105 other seamen killed that served aboard the USS West Virginia. He was interred temporarily at Pearl but was returned to the United States and interned on October 28, 1947, at Fort Snelling National Military Cemetery Section B-1, site 352N near Minneapolis, Minnesota where his older brother Lloyd requested his final internment be located. 

In April 1947, local veterans that had returned home from the war, requested the organization of an American Legion Post in Upham and elected the post to be named after Earl T. Nermoe.  On August 7, 1947, veterans in the area were granted the permanent charter of Post 269. Today the Earl Nermoe American Legion Post #269 still operates and continues its mission in honoring this nation's veterans. 

NOTE: The USS West Virginia was raised, refitted, and fought again across the Pacific including in Battle of Leyte, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On October 25, during the Battle of Surigao Strait, her radar-directed fire allowed West Virginia to engage and contribute to the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamashiro. She witnessed Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay.  The USS West Virginia extended a deep and harsh revenge against the Japanese that had earlier claimed 105 of her sailors at Pearl Harbor.

What was it like aboard the USS West Virginia for SFC Nermoe and his fellow sailors.

On Sunday, 7 December 1941, West Virginia lay moored outboard of Tennessee (BB-43) at berth F-6 with 40 feet of water beneath her keel. Shortly before 0800, Japanese planes, flying from a six-carrier task force, commenced their well-planned attack on the Fleet at Pearl Harbor. West Virginia took five 18-inch aircraft torpedoes in her port side and two bomb hits, those bombs being 15-inch armor-piercing shells fitted with fins. The first bomb penetrated the superstructure deck, wrecking the port casemates (a casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a warship) and causing that deck to collapse to the level of the galley deck below. Four casemates and the galley caught fire immediately, with the subsequent detonation of the ready-service projectiles stowed in the casemates.

The second bomb hit further aft, wrecking one Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane atop the "high" catapult on Turret III and pitching the second one on her top on the main deck below. The projectile penetrated the 4-inch turret roof, wrecking one gun in the turret itself. Although the bomb proved a dud, burning gasoline from the damaged aircraft caused some damage.

The torpedoes, though, ripped into the ship's port side; only prompt action by Lt. Claude V. Ricketts, the assistant fire control officer who had some knowledge of damage control techniques, saved the ship from the fate that befell Oklahoma (BB-37) moored ahead. The Oklahoma took torpedo hits that flooded the ship and caused her to capsize.

Instances of heroic conduct on board the heavily damaged battleship proliferated in the heat of battle. The ship's commanding officer, Capt. Mervyn S. Bennion, arrived on his bridge early in the battle, only to be struck down by a bomb fragment hurled in his direction when a 15-inch "bomb" hit the center gun in Tennessee's Turret II, spraying that ship's superstructure and West Virginia's with fragments. Bennion, hit in the abdomen, crumpled to the deck, mortally wounded, but clung tenaciously to life until just before the ship was abandoned, involved in the conduct of the ship's defense up to the last moment of his life. For his conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage, and complete disregard of his own life, Capt. Bennion was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously.

West Virginia was abandoned, settling to the harbor bottom on an even keel, her fires fought from on board by a party that volunteered to return to the ship after the first abandonment. By the afternoon of the following day, 8 December, the flames had been extinguished. The garbage lighter YG-17 played an important role in assisting those efforts during the Pearl Harbor attack, remaining in position alongside despite the danger posed by exploding ammunition on board the battleship. 

Any of these instances could have led to SFC Nermoe's fatal injuries. His duty as a gunner most likely put him on station at his guns firing against the Japanese onslaught when bombs and torpedoes struck the West Virginia.  Regardless, his duty and ultimate sacrifice will long endure.  

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In the near future, the Earl Nermoe American Legion Post 269 will participate in the dedication ceremony of the SFC Earl Nermoe Bridge. The dates and times will be established soon.  Post 269 members also wishes to express their appreciation for the Bottineau County Commissioners permission to name this bridge and forthcoming dedication.