PFC William Joseph Lovshin

It’s unclear when William Joseph Loushin became William Joseph Lovshin, but he was a Lovshin when he enlisted in the Marines on April 17, 1940.

Mr. Lovshin was born Oct. 28, 1919 in St. Louis County in northeast Minnesota. His father, John Loushin, worked as an iron ore miner and his mother, Mary Avsec Loushin, was a homemaker. The parents were Slovokian immigrants. William was the youngest of five sons in a family of nine children.

He graduated in 1938 from Ely High School where he was a halfback on the football team. The spring 1940 Census said he was a student and had completed one year of college.

Mr. Lovshin was a private first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Two older brothers, Stanley Loushin and Theodore Loushin, served in the Army during World War II.

Sources: the Ely (Minnesota) Echo; the Duluth (Minnesota) News Tribune; Ely Winton Historical Society; Census; Marine muster roll; WWI military registration card; Marine photo. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.