PFC George Richmond Bailey

George Richmond Bailey was born June 14, 1921 in Santa Monica and attended Santa Monica and Loyola high schools.

The 1930 Census showed him living with an aunt and uncle in Santa Monica. He was still in Santa Monica in 1940, living with his mother, Rose Carroll Bailey, and brother John. Rose was working for the Works Progress Administration, a Depression-era federal jobs program, and George was a construction laborer.

He enlisted in the Marines that summer — shortly after graduating from Santa Monica High — and was a private first class and flag orderly on the staff of Admiral Issac C. “Cap” Kidd, commander of BatDiv1, by the time he died on the U.S.S. Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. His body was recovered on Dec. 10 and is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl in Honolulu.

Mr. Bailey’s brother, known as Jack, enlisted in the Marines 15 days later. He survived the war.

Sources: Interment form for National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific; The Los Angeles Times; Santa Monica Outlook; US Census; graveyard headstone; Department of Veterans Affairs Death File. Navy photo. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.