Clifford LeRoy Nichols was born June 8, 1911, in Westfield, New York. His mother, Mabel Tyler Nichols, was a homemaker and his father, Arthur Nichols, a railroad conductor.

By 1926 at the latest the family moved to Weleetka, Oklahoma, where the father was a carpenter.  Clifford attended the local high school. He sang in the glee club and was a lineman on the football team. He also attended a Citizens Military Training camp at Fort Sill during the summer of 1930.

He enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 12, 1932. C.E. Crooks, his high school principal, vouched for his character. He told the Navy that Clifford’s reputation in the community was “excellent,” and he gave him the highest marks for trustworthiness, intelligence and ability.  Mr. Nichols went aboard the U.S.S. Arizona by March 31, 1932.

He married Cecelia Andrada on Oct. 15, 1938, at Yuma, Arizona. It was a popular wedding destination for Arizona men because it was an easy drive from the ship’s home port at San Pedro, California, and because, unlike California, Arizona had no waiting period between taking out a license and getting married. The couple, who made their permanent home at Long Beach, had a son in July 1939.

Mr. Nichols was a turret captain first class when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Sources: the Okmulgee (Oklahoma) Daily Times; the Sunday Times Democrat of Okmulgee; U.S. Veterans Administration; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; Arizona marriage license. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.