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F2c John Raymond Terrell
Two young men from Harrisburg, a town of about 1,200 in northeast Arkansas, died on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
John Raymond Terrell was born in Harrisburg on June 5, 1920. His mother, Delphia Duke Terrell, was a homemaker, and his father, Harry William Terrell, a World War I Army veteran, a house carpenter in 1920, a jailer in 1930, and a carpenter on bridge construction in 1940.
The son graduated from Harrisburg High School in 1938. He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal Depression-era jobs program for young men. The spring 1940 Census said he was seeking work but had not had a job for 92 weeks. The father had worked 40 weeks in 1939 for $750.
Young Mr. Terrell enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 4, 1940. He started as an apprentice seaman earning $21 a month. He was a fireman second class when he died.
The other local man, LeRoy George Frank, was born April 24, 1916 at First View, Colorado. His mother, Laura Skinner Frank, was a homemaker and his father, Roy Frank, a farmer. The family moved to Poinsett County, Arkansas — Harrisburg is the county seat — three years later.
He attended Harrisburg High through 1934.
Mr. Frank enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 16, 1939, and was a seaman first class when he was killed on Dec. 7, 1941.
His younger brother, Robert, served in the Navy in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Sources: Census; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; grave markers; WWII draft registration card; U.S. Department of Defense. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.