John Breckenridge McHughes was born July 20, 1902 in Bolivar, a town of about 1,000 people in southwest Tennessee. His father, James C. McHughes, was a railway section foreman, and his mother, Dollie Moss McHughes, a homemaker. The family included a daughter, and two other sons who died as young children.

By 1910 the family had moved to Michigan City, Mississippi a few miles south of the Tennessee border. The next year, likely back in Tennessee, John was eight when his mother died. 

John completed 8th grade before he enlisted in the Navy on Nov. 8, 1920. He re-enlisted in August 1923 while his ship, the U.S.S. Heron, was at Chefoo, China. The Navy used that port for summer training.

After more than six years in service, Mr. McHughes left the Navy on May 31, 1927. The 1930 Census showed him living in Memphis with his then-wife and working as a switch tender for a steam railroad. The marriage did not last.

He re-enlisted on March 19, 1931. Mr. McHughes was a watertender and chief petty officer on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his second wife, Thelma Courter McHughes, in Everett, Washington. 

Sailors have a tradition of getting tattoos, and Mr. McHughes embraced it with gusto. Among his were a U.S. flag, woman’s head, cannon, battleship, “comin ‘Jeff’ ,” “Mutt,” snake, dragon, “Shanghai China, 1921,” eagle and roses.

Sources: The Jackson (Tennessee) Sun; The Bristol (Tennessee) News Bulletin; U.S. Veterans Administration; Census; grave markers; Navy enlistment records and muster roll. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.