MATT1c Henry Jr. Jones

Henry Jones Jr. was born Nov. 30, 1919, at Alexandria, Louisiana. His father was a laborer at a foundry and his mother, Helen, was a homemaker.

The son completed two years of high school before enlisting in the Navy on Nov. 5, 1938 in New Orleans. By April 1940 he was stationed at the San Diego Naval Training Station and reported to the Census that he earned $240 the previous year. 

Henry Jr. married Mae Ethel Harris, a native Texan, in Yuma, Arizona, on May 17, 1941. They both lived in Long Beach, California, next to the U.S.S. Arizona’s home port at San Pedro. The groom said he was Negro and the bride said she was Caucasian despite Arizona laws banning the marriage of Caucasians with Negroes, Hindus, Mongolians, Malays, or Indians. 

Less than six months later, Mr. Jones was a mess attendant first class on the Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Mrs. Jones remained in Long Beach, working as a seamstress, for at least two years after her husband’s death.

In the armed services segregated since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, messman was the only branch of the Navy open to Mr. Jones. Sailors in the messman branch cooked, cleaned, and performed other services. They were prohibited from advancing to higher skilled and better paid jobs other than as stewards or cooks for officers.

Sources: This profile is based on the ship’s final muster roll, enlistment records, the couple’s marriage license, Long Beach city directories, and Census records for 1920, 1930, 1935, and 1940. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.