S2c Clyde Harold Mastel

Clyde Harold Mastel “Buddy” was born Oct. 13, 1923 in North Dakota where his father, Peter Mastel, was a rancher and his mother, Madelyne McDermott Mastel, a homemaker.

By 1930 the family was in Altamont, Oregon, where the father managed a farm. They moved to Sacramento County, California before 1935.

The spring 1940 Census said the father was a laborer for the Works Progress Administration, a Depression-era federal jobs program. He worked 52 weeks the previous year and earned $600. He was the sole support of a household of four.

Clyde had completed two years at Grant Union High in Sacramento but was no longer enrolled. He enlisted in the Navy on Feb. 24, 1941.

Young Mr. Mastel, known as Buddy, was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Sources: The Sacramento (California) Bee; the Auburn (California) Journal; Census; Navy muster roll; Defense Department. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.