SC1c Angelo Gobbin

Angelo Gobbin was born in Treviso, Italy, on July 26, 1889. His father was Louis Gobbin and his mother Anna Balono Gobbin.

Angelo came to the United States about 1908, and by the time of the 1910 Census was a coal miner in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His last name was listed as Gobini.

When he registered for the military in early 1917 he was still in Allegheny County and working as a carpenter. He enlisted in the Army in April 1918 and went overseas the next month. He was a private at the battle of Saint Mihiel in September 1918 and was slightly wounded at the battles of Meuse-Argonne that same fall.

Mr. Gobbin returned to the United States in May 1919 and was honorably discharged the next month.

It’s unclear what he did next, but by at least May 1934 he was in the Navy and aboard the U.S.S. Arizona. He married Margaret Marcus in Los Angeles County, California, in March 1937.

They made their permanent home at Long Beach, a popular residence for families of Arizona men because it was adjacent to the battleship’s home port of San Pedro. The 1940 Census said Mr. Gobbin’s highest level of education was 4th grade. As a ship’s cook, he earned $1,260 the previous year — equal to about $23,400 in 2020. His wife was a homemaker, raising a son from a previous marriage.

Mr. Gobbin was a cook first class when he was wounded in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. He was taken aboard a hospital ship, the Solace, but died that same day. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

His widow went to work at the shipyard in Long Beach, as did other women whose husbands were killed at Pearl Harbor.