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COX Alvie Charles Fortenberry
Alvie Charles Fortenberry graduated from Progress High in southwestern Mississippi — a school whose motto was “We shall progress by work alone.”
He was born Feb. 7, 1921 at Magnolia in southern Mississippi to Archibald Fortenberry, a car repairman for a railroad, and Belle Simmons Fortenberry, a homemaker. They had six sons and one daughter.
Alvie, described by his brother Milton as scrappy, joined the Navy on Dec. 16, 1939.
He was a coxswain and petty officer third class when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
For fun, he’d boxed on the Arizona team that competed against sailors from other ships.
The Allen-Fortenberry VFW Post in Magnolia was named in honor of Mr. Fortenberry.
Sources: the Enterprise-Journal of McComb, Mississippi; the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi; the Choctaw Plaindealer of Mississippi; Census; Navy muster roll; the Pike County (Mississippi) Herald; Veterans Administration; At ‘Em Arizona newsletter of Nov. 9, 1940. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.