F2c Hubert Aaron

Hubert Aaron is first in alphabetical order of the 1,177 men who died on the U.S.S. Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941.

He was born Oct. 22, 1919, in Texarkana, Arkansas. His mother, Jennie Davis Aaron, was a homemaker and his father, Alfred Alonzo Aaron, a farmer who used mules to plow their 46 acres. Hubert was the youngest of six children.

Sources vary, but he attended either Fouke High School or Texarkana High through 10th grade. He was a truck driver for four months, then enlisted in the Navy on October 14, 1940. He reported for duty aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on January 4, 1941.

Mr. Aaron was assigned to the ship with his cousin, Armor Rose, but Mr. Rose was on leave back home when the attack occurred.

“When the news about the attack came over the car radio, we immediately drove on to see Hubert’s parents, and by the time the car drove up to Hubert’s house, his mom was already outside waiting to meet us right at the gate,” Mr. Rose’s sister Jewell recalled years later. “She first asked Armor if there was any way Hubert had taken shore leave the night before and may have not been in his bunk on the Arizona earlier that morning. But Armor told her Hubert would be in his bunk because he wasn’t the type that would go out on shore leave.”

Mr. Aaron’s job on the Arizona was as a fireman second class, which meant he was stationed in the engine room. His cousin recalled that growing up, Hubert loved to work on motors.

Sources: Greg Bischof of the Texarkana Gazette; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Census; Arkansas birth certificate. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona and Operation 85.