OS2c Hilery Paulmand
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OS2c Hilery Paulmand
Hilery Paulmand was an officer’s steward 2nd class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
He was survived by his mother, Rufina Eladio, in Baguio, Philippine Islands about 170 miles north of Manila.
Mr. Paulmand, born Oct. 6, 1911. Navy files do not name his father.
He first enlisted on Feb. 6, 1930 as a messman 3rd class, earning $21 a month. He joined at the Navy Yard in Cavite, Philippines.
He’d worked his way up to messman 1st class, earning $59.40 a month, by the time he re-enlisted on Feb. 12, 1936. Publicly available records do not say how much he was paid by the time he died.
Japan attacked the Philippines within hours of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. His hometown of Baguio was not liberated until April 1945. It’s possible that his family didn’t learn of his death until after the end of World War II.
As a Filipino Mr. Paulmand was a messman — like all men who were black or from Guam. The Navy had been segregated since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. Messmen could work their way up to officer’s steward, as Mr. Paulmand did, but that was their limit. Jobs with greater skills and pay were off-limits.
Sources: Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Arizona next-of-kin list; Veterans Administration. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.