BM2c John Anthony Kosec

John Anthony Kosec probably never met his only child, a son born two months before Mr. Kosec was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

He was a boatswain’s mate and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he died, Dec. 7, 1941.

His son, Craig, was born in September in Long Beach, the home port of the battleship. But it left there in July, never to return to the mainland.

Mr. Kosec also was survived by his widow, Katherine.

He was born Jan. 14, 1918, in Ohio to Mary and Thomas Kosec, both Yugoslavian immigrants. The father was a steel mill worker.

The son enlisted in the Navy in February 1937. He was a member of the Arizona swim team, which competed against crews from other ships at Pearl Harbor.

Sources: At ‘Em Arizona newsletter, August 1941; U.S. Veterans Administration; passport application; Ohio marriage record; California birth index; Census; Navy muster roll. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.