Wilmington man, one of the last living links to the Battleship NC's WWII days, dies at 102

One of the last surviving wartime crew members of the USS North Carolina, the ship that's been moored across the Cape Fear River from downtown Wilmington as the Battleship North Carolina since 1961, has died.

Harold Gary Pless of Wilmington died June 26 at the age of 102. A funeral at Greenlawn Memorial Park was held June 29, and Pless received full military honors. Pless is survived by two daughters, Sharon Holston and Pamela May Pless, both of Wilmington.

Pless' son-in-law, George Holston of Wilmington, said his father-in-law, who went by his middle name, Gary, kept a garden at home until he was 95 and regularly helped his neighbors do various home projects.

"He could fix anything," Holston said.

Pless, who was born in Florence, South Carolina, on Aug. 20, 1920, was four months shy of his 21st birthday when the USS North Carolina was commissioned April 9, 1941. He had enlisted in the Navy just the day before, on April 8.

Pless reported to the Battleship as an apprentice seaman on July 14, 1941, from the Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia.

"In other words, he arrived straight from boot camp," said Kim Sincox, museum services director for the Battleship.

Pless would serve on the USS North Carolina for the next three years, and he also served on the USS Rockingham, the USS Albany and USS Portsmouth during a nearly six-year Navy career. He saw plenty of combat in the Pacific and earned seven Navy battle stars.

It's not known precisely how many people who served on the USS North Carolina are still living, but there are a few.

One of the ship’s officers, who will turn 103 in August, visited the ship last year, Sincox said.

"We’ve been visited by several other crew members this past year," she added, "all in their upper 90s. One who will be 100 in December is planning to visit in September."

Pless was one of the last living links to the Battleship North Carolina's World War II exploits in the Pacific. The ship returned to United States after in October of 1945 after World War II ended, was inactivated in 1946 and decommissioned in June of 1947.

More than 8,000 men lived and worked on the ship during its more than six years of duty. In 1961 the Battleship came to Wilmington to serve as a war memorial and tourist attraction, and it's been here ever since. In 1962, the USS North Carolina Battleship Association was formed to hold reunions and to maintain ties to the ship for the men who served on it. Many such memorials and reunions have been held over the decades.

Holston said his father-in-law didn't talk much about his wartime experiences. In fact, he said "almost nothing at all" on it, and never joined the Battleship Association.

But Pless did attend events at the Battleship over the years, Holston said, and he also went on an Honor Flight with other military veterans to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 2010.

"He thought that was about the most marvelous thing," Holston said. "He appreciated it very much."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Battleship North Carolina veteran dies