SK3c George Eyed

George Eyed was six when his father, Wolf, died in a traffic accident.

His mother, Tamam, known as Mamie, went to work as a presser at an overall manufacturer in Indianapolis to support her three children. But then Mamie died just before George’s 16th birthday. His only sister, Helen, died of tuberculosis the next year.

That left George and his brother, John, who was four years older. As kids, they loved to play in neighborhood basketball and baseball leagues. George pitched and Abe, as his brother was known, caught.

But times were tough for them during the Depression. Both attended Arsenal Technical High School, but Abe left for a year to serve in the Civilian Conservation Corps. It isn’t clear whether George graduated from high school. He enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 5, 1937, soon after his 17th birthday.

He was a storekeeper and petty officer third class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

His brother graduated from the University of Southern California, though on the day of his graduation he was already serving as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in Africa, stationed with the British Army. He also served in the U.S. Army’s Medical Administrative Corps in the United States during the war. He died in 2005.

George Eyed was born in Indianapolis on Sept. 18, 1918. His parents were Syrian immigrants, and his birth certificate identified them as cousins. His father was a factory laborer.