Seeley, Orland Craft Orland Craft "Gus" Seeley, USN LCDR (Ret.), Pearl Harbor survivor and beloved father, died Wednesday, September 28 in Irving, TX. He was 89. Born in Evarts, KY, O.C. Seeley joined the US Navy in 1940, where he was assigned to the light cruiser USS Honolulu at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, young Seeley was a Yeoman Third Class. The Honolulu sustained damage but there were no casualties. In the European theatre, he was assigned to an LST group and participated in the invasion of Sicily, Salerno and Normandy. He then went on to the Pacific and invasions of the Philippines and Okinawa. Assignments in China, Korea and the Aleutian Islands followed until the end of WWII, when he returned to Hawaii. In May of 1948 O.C. Seeley married Mattie Camilla Brimmage of Petty, Texas at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu. They were married 56 years before her death in 2004. During this time they continued to travel extensively with the Navy, enjoying such exotic stations as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Taipei, Taiwan and Saigon, Vietnam. In 1970, after 30 years of service and earning numerous medals and commendations, Seeley retired from the Navy. After the Navy retirement, Seeley was employed with the City of Dallas, making his way to the position of City Marshall. During this time, he also earned his BS degree in Criminology and Corrections from Sam Houston State University and volunteered with the City of Dallas Employees Credit Union, serving a 3 year term as Director. O.C. Seeley has been an active member of several organizations, including the Military Order of World Wars, the Fleet Reserve and the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, among others. He has volunteered and participated in a number of oral history projects regarding his experiences during WWII, and most notably the attack at Pearl Harbor. He is survived by his children, Melanie Brown of Richardson, TX, James Seeley of Reston, VA, Lori Seeley of Great Falls, VA; sons-in-law Steven Brown and Paul Cox; granddaughters Mary Elizabeth Cox, Lucille Cox, Claire Brown and Julia Brown; sisters Helen Joyce Seeley and Mary Elizabeth Seeley of Corbin, KY and brother Joseph Seeley of Mechanicsville, MD. Visitation will be held at Brown's Funeral Home in Irving, TX on Sunday, October 2, from 2 - 4 PM. Services will be held at the Dallas Fort-Worth National Cemetery on Monday, October 3, at 11:15 AM.
Published in The Dallas Morning News, (TX) - October 1, 2011
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