PFC Carl Edward Webb

Carl Edward Webb attended Magnolia Agricultural & Mechanical College (now Southern Arkansas University) for about a year before he left to join the Marines in March 1940.

He was a private first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl in Honolulu.

Mr. Webb was born Aug. 21, 1919 in Waco, Texas to Eber Webb, a machinist, and Hazel Robinson Webb, a homemaker.

Their marriage did not last, and by 1922 the mother had remarried. In 1930 Carl was living in Wichita Falls, Texas northwest of Fort Worth with his mother, stepfather, and several siblings. He graduated from high school in Tyler, Texas.

However, he kept a connection to his father, who operated a hotel in Magnolia, Arkansas and was still living there when Carl was killed.

Sources: “Southern Arkansas University:  The Mulerider School’s Centennial History,” by James F. Willis; The Times of Shreveport, Louisiana; Wichita (Texas) Daily Times; Texas birth record; Census; Arkansas marriage licenses; Marine enlistment photo; the Daily Banner News of Magnolia, Arkansas. Marine photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.