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F1c John Junior Fess
John Fess Jr. joined the Navy to learn diesel engineering. He achieved his goal, studying in a Navy program in San Diego in 1941.
He visited his family in Torrance, California that October and then headed to Hawaii and the U.S.S. Arizona, where he was a fireman first class. He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941 in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Mr. Fess was born in Torrance on Sept. 14, 1920 to John Fess, a Canadian immigrant who worked for the fire department and later in parks maintenance, and Persia Fess, a practical nurse. He had one older brother.
Mr. Fess graduated in 1939 from Torrance High, where he played varsity basketball and tennis. He also played the piano. He attended a trade school in Los Angeles and worked as a linotyper at the Burbank Post. He enlisted on June 13, 1939.Sources: the Torrance Herald; Navy muster rolls; Census; Veterans Administration; 1937 Torrance High yearbook. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
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