TC1c Clifford Leroy Nichols

Clifford Leroy Nichols was born June 8, 1911, in Erie County, New York. His mother, Mabel Tyler  Nichols, was a homemaker and his father, Arthur Nichols, a railroad conductor.

Between 1920 and 1929 the family moved to Weleetka, Oklahoma, where the father was a carpenter.  Clifford attended the local high school for one year. He sang in the glee club and was a lineman on the football team. He also attended a Citizens Military Training camp at Fort Sill during the summer of 1930.

It isn’t clear when Mr. Nichols enlisted in the Navy, but he was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona by  March 31, 1932.

He married Cecelia Andrada on Oct. 15, 1938, at Yuma, Arizona. It was a popular wedding destination for Arizona men because it was an easy drive from the ship’s home port at San Pedro and because, unlike California, Arizona had no waiting period between taking out a license and getting married. The couple, who made their permanent home at Long Beach, had a son in 1939.

Mr. Nichols was a turret captain first class when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Sources: the Okmulgee (Oklahoma) Daily Times; the Sunday Times Democrat of Okmulgee; U.S. Veterans Administration; Census; Navy muster rolls; Arizona marriage license. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.