Germanna Foundation

Honoring the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia

Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram
Help Germanna, shop via these links: | Amazon Smile
  • About
    • About
    • Welcome
    • History
    • Mission
    • Volunteer
    • People
      • Board of Trustees
      • Council of Advisors
      • Staff
      • Committees
  • Events
  • Membership
  • Donate
    • Planned Giving
  • Database
  • Store
    • Germanna Records
    • Germanna Zazzle Store
    • Germanna Shirts
    • Engraved Pavers
    • Germanna DNA Project
  • Contact
    • Join Mailing List
  • Home
  • Reunion
  • Travel
  • Visit
    • Library
    • Memorial Garden
    • Volunteer
  • Trails
    • Blue Trail
    • Orange Trail
    • Red Trail
    • Chimney and Witness Trail
    • 1957 Dedication
    • Preserving Our Land
  • Salubria
    • Salubria History
    • Hours/Directions
    • Reserve Salubria for a Special Event or Photo Shoot
  • Genealogy
    • Database of Descendants
    • Original Germanna Settlers
    • Germanna Records
    • Germanna DNA Project
    • Conference and Reunion
    • Travel to Germany with Germanna
    • Articles
    • Links
  • Articles
    • Articles
    • In the News
    • Announcements
    • Events
    • 300th Jubilee
    • Genealogy
    • Reunion
    • Salubria
    • Siegen Forest Trails
    • Germany
    • Conservation
    • History
    • Books
    • People
      • In Memorium
  • Resources
    • Conference and Reunions
    • Travel to Germany
    • Photo Gallery
    • Newsletters
You are here: Home / Germanna Blog / Remembering Pearl Harbor and Germanna’s Own
Remembering Pearl Harbor and Germanna’s Own

Remembering Pearl Harbor and Germanna’s Own

December 6, 2013 By Germanna

GFCC-Pearl-Harbor

Pearl Harbor Day is a time of remembrance for Americans.

At 7:55 and 42 seconds, on the morning of December 7th, 1941, thousands of unsuspecting Americans were killed in a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

It was the bloodiest foreign attack on U.S. soil in the modern war era, until the September 11th attacks in 2001.

Perhaps you have made a pilgrimage to Pearl Harbor to pay your respects at the USS Arizona Memorial, to the many men who died that day.

For Germanna people, on Pearl Harbor Day, we remember two of our own.

As war clouds gathered over America in early 1941, Richard Walter Weaver was a 17-year-old Nevada boy and the sixth great-grandson of the 1717 Germanna colonists Phillip Joseph Weaver and his wife Susanna Klaar (the sister of colonist Hans Michael Klaar, ancestor of the Clores in America).

Congress had just enacted a law allowing Americans as young as Richard to enlist in the armed forces.

His parents, Ray and Marguerite McCuiston Weaver, said they would sign for him if that is what he wanted.

On February 20, 1941, his parents drove him to Reno where he boarded the train for San Francisco. The next day, he was assigned to his permanent ship: the USS Arizona.

Also serving on the USS Arizona was another young man, a Kentuckian named Clay Cooper Rector, the son of Wendell Wesley and Lela Florence Cooper Rector.

We don’t know for certain if they knew each other, but Richard and Clay were Germanna cousins.

Their families were related through the Germanna Broyles, Majer and Volck families.

Richard also was a member of the Broyles, Finks, Fleischmann, Schön, Wayland families, while his cousin Clay also descended from the Germanna Bach, Fishback, Heimbach, Hitt, Hofmann, Otterbach, Rector, Rouse, and Ruop families.

Clay Cooper Rector was in charge of the storeroom on the USS Arizona, and the last family member to see him may have been his cousin Harrison Clay Rector, who left Pearl Harbor on the USS Anderson just two days before the attack.

Richard Walter Weaver had duty that fateful morning of December 7, 1941.

He was seen sprinting to his station Number 6 on topside when the alarm sounded summoning all men to battle stations. It was there that the first and most lethal enemy projectile struck.

The USS Arizona sunk within nine minutes.

It is for men like these that the Germanna Foundation exists, that we remind each other in gratitude of the shared sacrifice of our ancestors and kinsmen who built America.

Today, their sacrifice is remembered in the Germanna Foundation Memorial Garden, where their memorial stones rest next to each other as a testament to the rising generation.

On the morning of December 7th, I will join the ladies of the Mine Run Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in ringing the bell of the Memorial Garden in memory of Richard, Clay, and the other 2,400 officers and crewmen who lost their lives that day at Pearl Harbor.

You can learn more about the life and service of Clay Cooper Rector in Clara Rector Barnes Smart, The Rectors of Wayne County Kentucky (1975) at 93, 136, and 137, and in Larry King, Rector Records (1986) at 82.

The family of Richard Walter Weaver (the first Nevadan killed in World War II) is remembered in Germanna Record Number 15 at 110.

The Germanna Foundation has received sufficient gifts toward Clay’s memorial paver, and we are seeking sponsors for Richard’s paver.

You may want to honor or remember a loved one in our Memorial Garden by reserving a paver.

For each paver, the Germanna Foundation will arrange for stonewriter Bob Clore to engrave three lines of text (25 characters per line, including spaces) for $150, four lines for $200.

Years ago, I engraved the names of my relatives on the Germanna pavers as a Christmas gift. Today, my children always look for their stones, and then hop from generation to generation back to Germany!

If you would like to participate in the life of the Foundation in this way, please call Barbara Bounds or John Howard at the Germanna Visitor Center at 540-423-1700 for assistance or use our Contact Form.

I wish you all the best in this Advent season

Sincerely,

J. Marc Wheat
President, Germanna Foundation

More Germanna!

Photo Galleries
Resources
Honor Roll Call at Germanna’s Memorial Garde...
Travel to Germany in 2016
Newsletters Added
Hebron Lutheran Church Foundation
Membership Dues
New Genealogy Database of Germanna Descendants
Fort Germanna featured in D.C. museum exhibit
Genealogy

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Germanna Blog

gertrips1Travel to Germany with the Germanna Foundation

Learn about the history of the Fort Germanna Colony and its German colonists, as well as the founding of the Germanna Foundation and all the different programs it manages.

Recent Posts

  • Dutch Ambassador Visits Fort Germanna Visitor Center
  • The Chalice of Oberfischbach & Germanna
  • Who Were Germanna’s Founders?
  • “Germanna on the Frontier” Reunion & Conference in July
  • Announcing Germanna’s Christmas Markets on the Rhine River Cruise, December 2019
  • Six Ways to Make the New Tax Bill Work for You – BEFORE the end of 2017
  • Germanna 101 – History of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia
  • Germanna Descendant in NSA’s Hall of Honor
Germanna Descendant Kid's Navy Blue T-Shirt
Germanna Descendant Kid's Navy Blue T-Shirt
by GermannaGeschaft

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans and will.

germanna-family-1b
Become a Member Make a Donation Planned Giving

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans and in your will.

Germanna Foundation

GERMANNA FOUNDATION
The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
Fax: 540-423-1747
Contact Us

Hike Siegen Forest!

Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river.

Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)
Office hours are 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm Tuesday through Saturday.
Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.
Location

Follow Us

Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram

Join Our Mailing List

Join Mailing List
Germanna Foundation Email List

Earn money for Germanna by shopping via this link:

About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.

Copyright © 2018 The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc. (The Germanna Foundation | Website by CJKCREATIVE.COM

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.