MM2c EDward Casamiro Tapie

Edward Casamiro Tapie was born May 12, 1917 in Los Angeles County to Bert Albert Tapie and Dolores Martinez Tapie.

After the parents divorced when Edward was young, he lived with his mother, who remarried. By 1920 the family lived in Fresno County, possibly in Sanger, population 2,578, where a daughter, Rose, was born in January 1919. By 1930 they had moved to Los Angeles.

Eddie, as he was known, graduated from Nathaniel Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California northwest of San Pedro in 1935. He lettered in football and managed the track team. He also managed the electrical crew for school plays.

Mr. Tapie enlisted in the Navy in July 1936 and was a machinist’s mate and petty officer second class 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 widow, Colleen June Tapie, who like many Arizona wives, lived in Long Beach, adjacent to the battleship’s home port.

Mr. Tapie and three other Narbonne graduates killed in World War II were honored at a memorial service at their high school in May 1943. The band and glee club performed.

Sources: San Pedro (California) News Pilot; Census; Navy muster roll; California birth index; World War II draft registration card; Greenview Alabama Funeral Home death notice; 1935 Narbonne High yearbook photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.