S1c Arthur Albert Huys

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

The son attended high school 70 miles south at Wabash and then 9 miles further south at Somerset, from which he graduated. 

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, equal to about $9,700 in 2020. 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 killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

On Dec. 9 his body was one of the few recovered from the crew. Mr. Huys was buried after the war at Oakridge Cemetery in Goshen, Indiana.

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