F1c Howard Burt Ibbotson

Howard Burt “Sandy” Ibbotson and his cousin Donald Edwin De Armoun were killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Mr. Ibbotson was a fireman first class and Mr. De Armoun a gunner’s mate and petty officer third class.Both were 20.

The men had been inseparable since they were young, Mr. De Armoun’s mother said.

Mr. Ibbotson, born March 8, 1921 in Orange County, California, was the son of Burton Ibbotson, an oil field driller,  and Jessie De Armoun Ibbotson, a homemaker. The son quit high school to join the Navy in November 1938. His cousin followed after his graduation the next summer.

Mr. Ibbotson had survived tragedy at age 12. He and two cousins had gone on a late May hike to fish on Rock Creek in the Sierra Nevadas 110 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe. An unexpected storm storm swept in, stranding the boys overnight in light clothing and without food or matches. The youngest cousin, 10, died.

Then, as Mr. Ibbotson’s father, Howard, was driving a car with other relatives to the scene, the vehicle overturned several times down a steep embankment. The occupants received minor injuries.

Sources: The Fresno (California) Bee; the Oakland Tribune; The Los Angeles Times; Census; California birth index. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.