Edward F. Borucki
Pearl Harbor Survivor

 

Edward F. Borucki was born November 20, 1920 in Holyoke.  Before joing the Navy, he worked as a newsboy for the Springfield Daily News, for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Mt Greylock and as an apprentice machinist at the Springfield Armory.

He joined the Navy in 1940, and after training became a yeaoman striker aboard the USS Helena.  He was eventually promoted to fireman second class and then to yeoman third class.

Borucki was aboard the Helena on December 7, 1941,  when the first torpedo of the Pearl Harbor attack hit. The attack killed 33 of his shipmates.  Borucki helped survivors aboard the ship until it was ordered back to California for repairs.