F2c Myron Alonzo Brophy

Myron Alonzo Brophy III was about eight when his father died and 13 when his mother died — both of cancer.

He graduated from Rutland High School in Vermont in 1938 and joined the Navy in January 1940. He was a fireman second class when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was survived by his sister, Jessie.

Mr. Brophy was born Nov. 1, 1919, to Myron Alonzo Brophy Jr., a woodworker, and Mary Sheller Brophy, a homemaker. After her husband’s death, she worked as a hospital housekeeper.

The Rutland High yearbook said young Mr. Brophy, nicknamed Joe, played basketball, football, and track. In the section prophesying the future it said “Myron Brophy is married and believes he has a bargain. His wife is 26, marked down from 37.”

The 1942 yearbook included a memorial to Mr. Brophy and quoted from the Bible, 2 Timothy, 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

There is a cenotaph in Mr. Brophy’s memory at East Dorset Cemetery in East Dorset, Vermont. His parents are buried there.

Sources: The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press; Rutland High yearbooks; Rutland Historical Society; Rutland Free Library; Census; Navy muster roll; Vermont birth and death certificates. Navy photo. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.