PHM2c Ivan Lee Block

Ivan Lee Block was born May 29, 1918 in St. Johns, Arizona, but his family soon moved to New Mexico.

When he was born his father, Vern Block, was a farmer, and his mother, Viola Buckelew Block, a homemaker.

Ivan Lee attended schools at Belen about 30 miles south of Albuquerque, and then worked as a laundry deliveryman. He and a younger brother, Charles, traveled to Denver to enlist in the Navy on July 9, 1938.

Ivan Lee was a pharmacist’s mate and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.His brother became a chief machinist’s mate and served on several ships, including the light carrier U.S.S. San Jacinto with the future President George H. W. Bush,  through September 1945.

Sources: The Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal; Census; Navy muster rolls; Historical Society of New Mexico; grave marker. Naval History and Heritage Command photo. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.