RM3c Harold Ely Shiffman

The parents of Harold Ely Shiffman and his four siblings were born in Russia.

Harold was born April 15, 1914 in Detroit — about five years after his father, Morris, arrived in the United States. Morris was a cobbler and his wife, Ida, a homemaker.

Harold graduated from Central High School in Detroit in 1932. He was a member of the R.O.T.C. and planned to study at the University of Detroit, his high school yearbook said. It described him as “a jolly old fellow — always cheerful.”

He enlisted in the Naval Reserve on Aug. 27, 1940, and was a radioman 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.

Sources: Detroit Free Press; The Jewish Advocate; Census; petition for naturalization; Navy muster roll; Central High School yearbook, The Centralite.