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Histories of The Individuals Who Served

Albert Anthony Zitske Jr.

World War II - U. S. Navy

(VFW Post in Mountain, Oconto, WI is named in his honor - contributed by Ed Palmer)
World War II Memorial to town of Mountain, Riverview, and Doty Veterans
ZITSKE-ESTABROOK VFW 2119

Albert Anthony Zitske Jr.
Fireman 1st Class
US Navy
Enlisted December 27, 1940

SERVICE #

4112398

Birth: September 20, 1923 Antigo, Langlade, Wisconsin, United States
Died: 14 Nov 1943 - Missing In Action, Lost at Sea

burial: Memorial -
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines
(below - detail from memorial wall)

Kay and Duane Douglass
Photo credit to South Africa War Graves Project (Find.a.Grave #47298096).

AWARDS

Navy Expeditionary Medal

4 Battle Stars for meritorious participation in battle - USS Barton.

2 Battle Stars for meritorious participation in battle - USS Saratoga

Purple Heart

World War II Victory Medal

World War II Campaign Ribbon

Navy Combat Action Ribbon

World War II Victory Ribbon

Three Ribbon Bar Clip

Ships

The Saratoga was the second aircraft built for the US Navy and survived World War II. She was sunk by the atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific on July 25, 1946. Built 1928,

May 29, 1942: USS Barton DD-599 seen in Boston Harbor just after commissioning. On June 8, 1942 Navy Fireman First Class, Albert A. Zitske was assign to the crew and was active in the Pacific Front of World War II until the Barton was sunk in battle on November 13, 1942.

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News Articles
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Wisconsin State Journal
February 8, 1843

Badger Fireman
Missing in Action

Washington - (UP) - The navy today announced the names of 53 casualties in the navy, marine corps aqnd coast guard, including 15 dead, 22 wounded and 16 missing.

The list brings to 22, 832 the casualties announced by the navy since Dec. 7, 1941.

It included: WISCONSIN: Zikske, Albert Anthony, Jr. Fireman 1C, missing, Father, Albert A. Zitske, Sr., Mountain (Oconto County).

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Hamlet of Mountain Mighty Proud of Part in War Effort - By FRANK HORAK 1943

Only recently has Albert A. Zitske Jr., of Mountain, been given up as lost officially. Albert enlisted in the U. S. Navy at the age of 17 and was called to sea duty on Dec. 27, 1940. He served on the aircraft carrier Saratoga and saw plenty of action (Battle of Wake Island, Pacific Ocean, from December 7, 1941 to December 28, 1941. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Saratoga was the centerpiece of the unsuccessful American effort to relieve Wake Island and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine a few weeks later.)

He was transferred to the new destroyer U. S. S. Barton on June 8, 1942, during the extensive repares of the Saratoga. From then on was in battle action until Nov. 13, 1942 (First Battle of Gualalcanal, Pacific Ocean, 2–15 November 1942, and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied US Navy ships and Imperial Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands during World War II.) when the Barton was sunk at Savo island and Zitske was listed as missing in action. Hope for his re-appearance was not given up by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Zitske Sr., until Dec. 5, 1943, when the Navy department officially listed him as dead.

IN TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL
NOVEMBER 13–15, 1942

To the superb officers and men on the sea, on land, in the air, and under the seas who in the past five days have performed such magnificent feats for our country. You have won the undying gratitude of your country and have written our names in golden letters on the pages of history. No honor for you could be too great, my pride in you is beyond expression. Magnificently done. May God bless each and every one of you. To the glorious dead, hail heroes—may you all rest with God.

WILLIAM F. HALSEY
Admiral, U.S. Navy

Military History

Final Hours of the USS Barton
(gathered from variious military sources)

On 12 November 1942, USS Barton helped escort transports into Guadalcanal’s Ironbottom Sound. After midnight, she was 11th in line among five cruisers and seven other destroyers as Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan’s Task Group 67.4 intercepted a much stronger Japanese force led by battleships Hiei and Kirishima.

The USS Barton had just fired a full spread of 28 torpedoes at the battleship Hiei when the light cruiser USS Helena appeared suddenly out of the darkness and cut directly across the bow of the USS Barton. Making an emergency stop to avoid colliding with the Helena, the Barton found herself at a dead stop as her engineering crew tried to get her engines back into gear to get her moving again.

However, before she could get underway two torpedoes fired by the Amatsukaze slammed into the midsection of the USS Barton; one in her boiler room (this was Fireman 1C Albert A. Zitzke's designation) and one in her engine room. The massive explosions broke the USS Barton in two and both sections sank only minutes after the first torpedo struck, carrying with her 164 men: 13 officers including LCdr. Fox and 151 of her crew. Forty-two survivors were rescued by USS Portland and twenty-six by Higgins boats from Guadalcanal.

In 1992, an expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard located Barton’s bow southeast of Savo Island, resting on its port side in more than 2,000 feet of water with both forward 5-inch guns still trained to port. The ship’s stern section was not discovered.

USS Barton earned four battle stars in her less than two months in the Solomon Islands.

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