S1c Harold Lemuel Patterson

Harold Lemuel Patterson was born April 9, 1922. His mother, Zena Clemmons Patterson, was a homemaker and his father, John W. Patterson, a section hand, presumably for a railroad.

The son was probably born in Texas as reported in the 1930 Census, but in 1940 Oklahoma was said to be the birthplace. The family, which grew to include seven children, lived in Hopkins County in northeast Texas by 1930. When his youngest sister, Anjunell, died in 2021 her obituary said their “depression era home was filled with very little in material possessions, but was filled with love for each other and for Jesus.”

The 1940 Census said Harold had completed two years of high school and was still enrolled. He attended Sulphur Springs High School in the county seat, and was a storeroom orderly, earning $750 for 52 weeks of work in 1939. The small amount (equivalent to about $16,000 in 2022 dollars) means he probably worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression jobs program for young men.

Mr. Patterson enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 18, 1941. He 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.

There is a cenotaph in his memory at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas. His parents are buried there.

His younger brother Bob served in the Navy from June 1945 through June 1946.

Sources: application for military headstone or marker; Census; Navy muster roll; U.S. Department of Veterans affairs death file; beckchapels.com. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.