F1c Lloyd Raymond Christensen

Lloyd Raymond Christensen was born May 21, 1921 in Dannebrog, Nebraska, a town founded by Danish immigrants in the 1870s.

His parents, Carl Martin Christensen and Marie Emmaline Killham Christensen, were farmers.

Lloyd graduated in 1939 from Dannebrog High School and enlisted in the Navy on January 19, 1940 in Omaha, Nebraska.  He completed his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinios and reported for duty aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on March 26, 1940. He was a fireman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

A memorial service was held at the Lutheran church in Dannebrog in February 1942. The Rev. L.C. Hansen gave a sermon based on Proverbs 27:1: “Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

There is a cenotaph in his memory at Central City Cemetery in Central City, Nebraska. His parents are buried there.

Source: the Phonograph of St. Paul, Nebraska; Census; cenotaph and grave markers; Navy muster roll. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.