Edward Joseph Hanzel was born Oct. 6, 1915 at New Prague, Minnesota. His father, John Hanzel, was a farmer and his mother, Sophie Rynda Hanzel, a homemaker.

He graduated in 1934 from the local high school, where he played football.

He enlisted in the Navy on Sept. 10, 1935. He wrote “travel experience” as the reason for his enlistment.

Mr. Hanzel was a watertender and petty officer first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. His body was one of the few recovered from the crew of the Arizona and is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

The 1940 Census showed his permanent residence as Long Beach, California, with his wife, Lydia Eilers Hanzel, who was also from New Prague.

Another New Prague man, Lawrence John Cihlar, also died on the Arizona. He was four years younger than Edward Hanzel, but they surely knew each other. Both attended the same elementary and high schools, and both played football. New Prague’s population in the 1930s was about 1,600.

Sources: Census; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; grave marker. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.