CYP Frank Edward Malecki

Frank Edward Malecki was born on New Year’s day 1899 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Joseph Malecki and Frances Pavolska Malecki.

The 1905 Census identified the father as a mechanical worker and the mother as a homemaker. They were Polish immigrants.

Frank was a clerk at the Great Northern Railway yard in Minneapolis at the time he registered for the World War I draft in the fall of 1918. It isn’t clear from available records whether he was drafted, but by about 1922 he was in the Navy.

Mr. Malecki was a yeoman and chief petty officer on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

For fun, Mr. Malecki was a “softball pitcher par excellent” on a team with other Arizona crewmen, the ship’s newsletter reported in May 1939.

He was survived by his widow, Minnie Andersen Malecki, a daughter, about 10, and a 9-year-old son.

Sources: Long Beach Press-Telegram; Census; World War I draft registration card; California birth index; Navy muster roll; Defense Department; At ‘Em Arizona newsletter of May 6, 1939. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.