John Frank Rozar was born Dec. 5, 1916 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father, Joseph Rozar, was a restaurant cook and his mother, Mary Regula Rozar, a homemaker. The father was a Hungarian immigrant.

John, the middle of three sons, was 12 when his father died.

The spring 1930 Census said Mrs. Rozar was a laundress for a private family and the oldest son, 15, was both a student and a butcher at a market.

John Rozar graduated in 1935 from Colorado Springs High School, where the yearbook said his ambition was to be a wrestler. He enlisted in the Navy on July 10, 1937.

Mr. Rozar was a watertender 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.

Sources: Census; grave marker; Navy enlistment record and muster roll. Colorado Springs High yearbook photograph.. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.