F1c Ned Burton Donohue

Ned Burton Donohue was born July 2, 1921 in Peerless, Utah, which is now a ghost town 70 miles southwest of Provo.

His father, Murl Burton Donohue, was a coal miner nearby in Carbon County during the winter and a farmer in Talmage, about 65 miles northeast, in the summer. His mother, Myrtle May Redford Donohue, also worked the farm.

He was a student at Carbon County High when he left to enlist in the Navy on Jan. 10, 1939.

Mr. Donohue was a fireman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Sources: The Salt Lake Tribune of Salt Lake City, Utah; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; Census; Utah veterans record. Note: In his application to the Navy and on his enlistment paper he said he was born July 2, 1920. That is incorrect. His eldest brother, John, was born Feb. 22, 1920 and died the next year. His death certificate confirms his birth year as 1920. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.