S2c Harold Dwayne Webster

Harold Dwayne Webster was born in Loveland, Colorado population approaching 5,500, on Oct. 31, 1923. His father Bryan was a foreman at a sugar factory and his mother, Edna Honeycutt Webster, a homemaker.

Harold was a senior at Loveland High School when he quit to enlist in the US Navy on December 7, 1940 in Denver, Colorado. He was still 17 and had to obtain the permission of his reluctant father. At school, Dwayne wrestled and participated in the Future Farmers of America.  Harold completed his training at the San Diego Naval Training Station in California and reported for duty aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on June 25, 1941.

He 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.

A park in Loveland, Colorado north of Denver is named in memory of Dwayne Webster, the first local man killed in World War II.

Dwayne was honored at a memorial service in February 1942 at the First Baptist Church in Loveland.

Sources: the Fort Collins (Colorado) Coloradoan; the Arizona State Archives; the Loveland (Colorado) Herald Reporter; city of Loveland; Census; Navy muster roll. Photo from the Arizona State Library Archive. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona and Operation 85.