Name: John Maurice GARHART
Rank / Rating: MM1-Machinist's Mate First Class
Service #: 660 29 07
DOB: Dec 22, 1916
From: Chicago, IL
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Jay Garhart
Went Aboard: Nov 23, 1942
Age When Kamikaze Struck: 28 years, 3 months, 9 days
Spouse:
Children:
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Admin
Date Posted:

John Maurice Garhart graduated from Spearfish High School in 1935 with honors. The family moved to California where John attended the University of California in Los Angeles studying electrical engineering.

John registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 at the age of 23 listing his father Edwin Jay Garhart as the person who would always know where he was. John enlisted March 25, 1942 at Salt Lake City, UT. He went aboard Indy November 23, 1942 at the age of 25. During the battle of Okinawa, a Japanese Kamikaze plane made Indianapolis his target in the early morning hours of March 31, 1945. The damage to the ship was not severe but the attack took the lives of nine crewmembers. One life lost was John Maurice Garhart, age 28. The Report of Changes of USS Indianapolis for this date recorded for each of the nine heroes whose lives were taken: "Missing in action since about 0700, 3/31/45. Believed to be dead." On the day of the attack, a funeral service for one Sailor was held. As the bodies of the other eight were recovered, a service for six was held on April 1, and for two on April 2, 1945. Each service was preformed with full military honors by the ship's chaplain, Father Thomas Conway. After the funeral services, John's body was carried from Indianapolis by his shipmates for burial in the US Armed Forces Cemetery located on Zamami Shima, Kerama Retto, off the island of Okinawa. After the war, families were given the opportunity to request that the remains of their loved one be returned to the US for burial. John was reinterred in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, San Mateo County, California. 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.