World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBorn in Los Angeles, California, United States and raised in the Philippines where his parents were plantation owners, Stephen Jurika, Jr. entered the United States Navy and was a graduate of the United States Navy Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, United States. He served in Tokyo during peace time as a naval attaché. When the war broke out, Lieutenant Jurika served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet as an intelligence officer. When Hornet ferried James Doolittle and his raiders across the Pacific for their raid, he briefed the raiders on the history, political situation, and psychology of the Japanese people. Like James Doolittle, he also tied his Japanese medal to one of the 500-bombs that later was dropped in either Tokyo, Nagoya, or Yokohama. He later served aboard the carrier USS Franklin as a navigator. He was present when Franklin was hit by two 250-kilogram bombs by a D4Y or a D3A dive bomber; when consulted by Captain Leslie Gehres whether the ship should be abandoned, he responded "not yet", which confirmed Gehres' thought that, even though the ship was badly damaged, the ship should not be abandoned because too many men were still trapped belowdecks.

ww2dbaseJurika remained in the US Navy after the war, serving in diplomatic and command posts, eventually retiring at the rank of commodore. In 1957, he earned a master's degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC, United States, then went on to acquire doctoral degrees in both political science and geography from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California within the next few years. He became a professor after his naval career, while also becoming a vice president of the missiles division at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. He passed away from cancer at a hospital in Menlo park, California, United States in 1993.

Stephen Jurika Timeline

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