Arthur Albert Huys was born Dec. 3, 1916 at Mishawaka, Indiana to Hector Huys, then a shoemaker, and Margaret DeVlieger, a homemaker. The father was a Belgian immigrant.

The son attended high school at Wabash and later at Somerset, from which he graduated in 1935.

His parents’ marriage did not last, and by the time of the 1940 Census, Margaret and Arthur were living at a home in Wabash where she was a housekeeper. She also worked as a laborer at a plant that manufactured a mineral fiber insulation called rock wool. Arthur worked at a tire and rubber company. Between them, mother and son earned $530 in 1939. Their financial struggle was a mark of the strong hold the Depression still held on the country in 1939.

Mr. Huys enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 8, 1940. He was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was badly burned in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He died on Dec. 10.  Mr. Huys was buried after the war at Oakridge Cemetery in Goshen, Indiana.

Sources: The South Bend (Indiana) Tribune; Indiana birth certificate; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; Census. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.