S1c Claude W. Jr. Castleberry

Claude William Castleberry Jr. lived his entire life in the north Texas city of Denton until he enlisted in the Navy on July 31, 1940.

He joined the crew of the U.S.S. Arizona in October. He was a seaman first class on the battleship when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was born Dec. 3, 1916 to Claude Castleberry, a purchasing agent at an oil company and later a college, and Isla Williams Castleberry, a homemaker. They suffered the death of one of their four children, a daughter who was one, in 1924. 

Claude Jr. graduated from Denton High School and attended North Texas State Teachers College at Denton for one year, ending in 1940.  The 1940 Census said he was a clerk at an ice plant and earned $540 for 52 weeks of work the previous year. In his application to the Navy he said he also worked as an assistant cashier at a business called Perry Brothers.

The boy was active in the art club in high school. His senior yearbook said: “Claude has artistic ability and will some day accomplish things that will make D.H.S. proud of him.”

The Denton Ministers Association honored Mr. Castleberry and two other local men killed in the war at a service at First Methodist Church in February 1942. The service included compositions by Handel, Sibelius, and Dvorak.

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Sources: The Denton (Texas) Record Chronicle; Denton High yearbook; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Census. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.