Joseph Maule Obituary

Graveside services for USN Seaman First Class Joseph Maule will be held at 1:00 p.m. Thursday June 20, 2019, at Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, Nebraska.


Military Honors will be provided by the United States Navy Funeral Honors Detail, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4996, American Legion Post 249, and American Legion Riders.


Brockhaus Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.


Joe died on December 7, 1941, while serving his country at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.


Joseph Keith Maule was born in Bloomfield, Nebraska on March 20, 1923, to Anton and Ellen Maule (deceased). He had five siblings who are all deceased:  Donald (Eva), Vlastimil (Ramona), Antoinette (Willard) Drobney, Bonnie (Foam) Ellis and Elizabeth (Cammy) Cull.


Joe enlisted in the Navy in Omaha on January 6, 1941, at age 17, and reported to duty aboard the USS Oklahoma on May 8, 1941.


On December 7, 1941, the USS Oklahoma was moored in Berth F-5 in Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor Honolulu, Hawaii when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. The first torpedo hit just before 8:00 a.m. followed by multiple torpedoes which caused the USS Oklahoma to quickly capsize resulting in the deaths of its 429 Sailors and Marines. Sf1 Maule was reported “missing” and later classified at “killed in action.” The majority of the 2,408 souls lost that day were buried in mass grave sites in Hawaii. The family was told his remains were “unrecoverable.”  Joe’s parents and siblings wished their entire lives that Joe could be brought back to rest in Bloomfield. That wish is finally coming true some 78 years later.


Around 2014 the Navy contacted the Maule family and collected DNA from nephew Joseph Keith Maule, niece Jane Mattern, and niece Judy Drobney-Taylor. Joe’s remains were sent to Omaha and finally identified last year.

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