WT1c Alfred Adam Ewell

Alfred Adam Ewell was born Aug. 25, 1911 in or near tiny Springston, Idaho south of Coeur d’Alene to Quarles Denton Ewell and Lulu May Luxton Ewell. The next day John J. Ewell was stillborn as the third offspring. Whether Alfred was the first or second born, there are apparently no records of the other triplet.

By the time another son was born in late July 1917 the family had moved to La Crosse in southeastern Washington state. In the same year the family was listed as living in Spokane with the father working as a boilermaker. By 1920 the family had moved to Pullman, Washington. The 1920 Census identified the father as a teamster and the mother as a homemaker.

It isn’t clear when Alfred Adam enlisted in the Navy, but possibly in Washington state, and before April 1930, when the Census said he was an entry-level fireman age 18 in barracks at Hampton Road Naval Base at Norfolk, Virginia.

On Jan. 17, 1940 in Clark County, Nevada, Alfred married Evelyn Elizabeth McKay.

Less than two years later he was a watertender and petty officer first class when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his widow, Evelyn McKay Ewell, who lived in Los Angeles.

At least one brother, Clyde, served in the Army in World War II and survived.

Sources: Census; birth, death and marriage records; Veterans Administration. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.