S1c Wilbur Albert KirchhoffI
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S1c Wilbur Albert Kirchhoff
Wilbur Albert Kirchhoff was born May 20, 1915 in St. Louis to Albert Kirchhoff, a carpenter, and Esther Akins Kirchhoff, a homemaker.
The son completed 10th grade at Eureka High School, just southwest of the city. He served in Co. 4738 of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Orena, Idaho. The CCC was a Depression-era federal jobs program. It employed single men 18 to 25 to plant trees, build roads and trails and make other improvements to public land, forests and parks. The men lived at camps across the country and were provided a bed and three meals a day. Of their $30 monthly pay, $25 was sent to their families.
He said he was a stock clerk before he enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 22, 1940.
Mr. Kirchhoff was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
A memorial service honored him at Ellisville Lutheran Church in April 1942.
He came from a family of 11 children. At least two other brothers served in World War II. Austin served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946. Samuel served in the Marines and was wounded.
Sources: The Gasconade County (Missouri) Republican; the St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Census; Department of Defense; Department of Veterans Affairs death file. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.