Donald Edwin De Armoun and his cousin Howard Burt “Sandy” Ibbotson both died on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
Mr. De Armoun was a gunner’s mate and petty officer third class and Mr. Ibbotson a fireman first class. They were 20.
Mr. De Armoun’s widowed mother, Rose Shubert De Armoun, said the men had been inseparable since they were young.
A Fresno native, he was born March 21, 1921. Mr. De Armoun joined the Navy on June 13, 1939, right after his graduation from E. R. Snyder Continuation High School in Fresno.
His father, William, a carpenter, died in 1936.
Source: The Fresno Bee; high school yearbook; Census; Navy muster roll; California death index. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.