QM2c Curtis James Haynes

Curtis James Haynes was born in Missouri on Feb. 20, 1918. His father, James Haynes, was a farmer and his mother, Eva Cooper Haynes, a homemaker.

By January 1920 the family had moved to Wilder, a town of about 350 in southwest Idaho. The father continued to farm.

Curtis Haynes graduated from high school in 1936 and enlisted in the Navy on June 16 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He completed hi basic training at the San Diego Naval Training Station in California.  Curtis boarded the U.S.S. Arizona for duty on 28, 1936. His father, then identified as a cafe owner, died of pneumonia in December 1936. 

The young Mr. Haynes was a quartermaster and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Both of his brothers, Cooper and Beuford, joined the Navy after his death and served throughout World War II.

Pictured above, Curtis stands with his little sister Loretta Lee. 

Sources:  Thank you to grandnephew Michael Tetlak for info and picture.  Census; Navy muster roll; Idaho death certificate; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death files; Warhawk Air Museum, Nampa, Idaho. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona and Operation 85.