S2c Eugene Louis Katt

Eugene Louis Katt was the son of Louis Katt and Ruth Means Katt. He attended elementary and high school in Los Gatos, California, graduating from Los Gatos Union High in 1940.

He enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 24, 1941, and was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

“If ever a boy had that ‘friendly touch,’ it was Gene. He made friends rapidly and held them long,” his hometown newspaper wrote in announcing his death.

His body was recovered and remained in Hawaii during the war. Mr. Katt was buried in 1947 at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, California.

Navy records say that he was born Nov. 17, 1922. A newspaper obituary published when he was buried said he was born in Oklahoma.

His father worked during the war at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in San Francisco Bay.

Sources: the Los Gatos (California) Mail-News; The San Jose (California) Evening News; Navy muster roll; Census; military registration card. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.