A Louisville orphan was one of many Pearl Harbor heroes on the USS Arizona. This is his story

Emmett Isaac Lynch had the daily Navy routine down pat.

He knew that at 8 a.m. he would be playing the national anthem to wake up all the sailors aboard the USS Arizona. But Dec. 7, 1941, was different. 

The 25-year-old Louisville-raised sailor and Georgetown College graduate was stationed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu. But Lynch wasn't a fighter, he was a musician — the bass drummer in the battleship's 21-member band.

But just minutes before he would have normally picked up his sheet music, Lynch's life became a living hell. 

Swarmed by Japanese pilots dropping bombs and strafing the harbor with machine-gun fire, Lynch threw down his instrument and picked up a weapon. For the next 15 minutes, Lynch spent his last breaths fighting for his life. He began shuttling ammunition to his fellow band mates to aid the guns on the main deck, according to an Associated Press story from 1942.

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Every member of the band died at 8:10 a.m., when a bomb penetrated the Arizona's deck and caused stores of ammunition to explode. 

Lynch was one of 27 men from Kentucky who died aboard the Arizona, according to the Pearl Harbor Historical Society. 

His final resting place is the Pacific Ocean, alongside the 1,177 members of the Arizona. But he is remembered in Kentucky.

Emmett Lynch's Junior photo from the 1938 Georgetown college yearbook. (Photo: Belle of the Blue. Georgetown College, 1938)

While records are spotty, census data show that Lynch was born on May 26, 1916, in Tennessee. Later, he was orphaned and sent to Ormsby Village Children's Home in Louisville. 

Ormsby Village primarily housed children who were either delinquent or dependent as wards of the state, according to the Kentucky Oral History Commission. It also focused on recreation and education instead of sending kids to factories to work. 

At Georgetown College, Lynch majored in music and minored in economics before graduating in 1939. He was also the vice president of the men's glee club and the treasurer of the school's band and orchestra.

Georgetown College still honors Lynch, awarding a scholarship in his name to one student in financial need every year. 

After graduation, Lynch headed to Washington, D.C., and married Lorraine Lee Sisk.

On April 20, 1940, Lynch enlisted in the Navy, according to military documents. He attended the Navy's Music School and reached the rank of Musician Second Class. 

While Navy life at Pearl Harbor was strict, the band managed to have fun.

Molly Kent, a Kansas City author who wrote a book about the Arizona's band, told Courier Journal that Lynch and the other band members were like family. 

Members of the USS Arizona dance band pause at Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, during the Battle of Music semifinal held Nov. 22, 1941. From left, they are Musician 2nd Class Curtis Haas, Musician 2nd Class Gerald Cox, Musician 2nd Class Ernest Whitson Jr., Musician 2nd Class Frank Floege, Musician 2nd Class Clyde Williams, Musician 2nd Class Bernard Hughes, Musician 2nd Class Alexander Nadel, Musician 2nd Class Charles White, Musician 2nd Class Robert Shaw, Musician 2nd Class Harry Chermucha, Musician 2nd Class William Moorhouse, Musician 2nd Class Emmett Lynch, Musician 2nd Class Wayne Bandy, Musician 2nd Class Jack Scruggs, Musician 2nd Class James Sanderson, and Musician 1st Class Frederick Kinney. (Photo: Official U.S. Navy photo) (Photo: Official U.S. Navy photo)

“They were extremely close,” Kent said. “They traveled together, lived with each other day and night. They were all young boys away from home for the first time. They were all each other had.” 

Every couple of weeks the base held "The Battle of Music" competition, according to the archives of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Four bands from various ships at port would compete with a swing number, a ballad, a specialty tune and provide music for a jitterbug contest.

The Arizona's band won the first round in 1941, and several weeks later it placed second to the Marine Barracks Band. 

“They were all young boys away from home for the first time. They were all each other had.”

Molly Kent

The night before the Pearl Harbor attack, Lynch and his friends got to see the members of the USS Tennessee band play and scoped out the competition, according to Pacific Fleet archives. 

But they never got a chance to practice for the next music battle. 

As Japanese forces bombarded Battleship Row, Lynch and the other members of his band fought. 

“The band was on the back end of the ship, getting ready to play as they raised the flag,” Kent said. “At first they thought it was their planes coming back in. But then someone saw that rising sun emblem on the plane. They dropped their instruments and ran for their battle stations.” 

Kent said some of the men threw their instruments overboard so they wouldn't get in the way. 

"On Dec. 7 they went to their battle stations, one of the most hazardous on the ship — down below passing ammunition to the guns above," according to the Associated Press story. 

Buy PhotoSmoke and flame are seen as the magazine explodes on the destroyer USS Shaw during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941, file photo. (AP Photo/File) (Photo: Copyright 2001 The Courier-Journal;NO COURIER-JOURNAL)

The Arizona's band is the only Navy band that was formed, trained,  fought and died together, according to ussarizona.org, a historical page dedicated to the USS Arizona. 

Adam Grimm, the public affairs officer for the Navy band, said the courage of the USS Arizona band is a source of pride for all sailors. 

"It's a stark reminder that we're more than just musicians," Grimm said. "We're sailors first." 

On Dec. 20, 1941, members of the Navy band awarded the "Battle of Music" tournament trophy to the fallen members of the Arizona, renaming it the Arizona Trophy, according to Pacific Fleet archives. 

After his death, Lynch was awarded a Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and a WWII Victory Medal.