Louis Alton Stockton was born Oct. 2, 1923 in Los Angeles County, California, to Violet Ammerman Rodenbaugh and Elmer A. Rodenbaugh. The marriage did not last.

In January 1930 the mother married World War I veteran Floyd T. Stockton and Louis took his last name. He was 12 when his adopted father died in a 1936 car accident that left his mother with several broken ribs.

She married William Henn the next year. The spring 1940 Census said Louis lived with them in Palo Verde, California. He graduated from Palo Verde Union High School (now known as Blythe High) in 1941.

Mr. Stockton enlisted in the Navy on June 23, 1941. He was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

At least one of his brothers, Perry Rodenbaugh, served in the Army from November 1936 through April 1938.

Sources: The San Bernardino County Sun of California; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; Palo Verde Union High School yearbook; California birth index; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; application for military headstone. Yearbook photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.