Leonard Carl Larson was born Aug. 5, 1921 in Flom, Minnesota. HIs father, Carl Oscar Larson, was a carpenter and his mother, Hanna Flaaten Larson, a homemaker. The parents were Norwegian immigrants.

When Leonard applied to enlist in the Navy he said the family resided for seven years in Williston, North Dakota, but that they’d most recently lived in Grand Coulee, Washington. He said he completed 8th grade at Grand Coulee High School.

When he enlisted on Nov. 12, 1940, he said his home address was Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Elwha in Port Angeles, Washington. The CCC, as it was known, 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. The camp at which he served later became part of Olympic National Park.

Mr. Larson was a fireman third class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

At least one other brother, Don, also served in the Navy in World War II.

Sources: Notice of Settlement Claim for Navy pay; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; the Spokane (Washington) Daily Chronicle; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file. Thanks to Cathy Curtin for the photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.