Eugene Louis Katt was the son of Louis Katt and Ruth Means Katt. He attended elementary and high school in Los Gatos, California, graduating from Los Gatos Union High in 1940.

He enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 24, 1941, and was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

“If ever a boy had that ‘friendly touch,’ it was Gene. He made friends rapidly and held them long,” his hometown newspaper wrote in announcing his death.

His body was recovered and remained in Hawaii during the war. Mr. Katt was buried in 1947 at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, California. His parents are also buried there.

He was born Nov. 17, 1922, at Picher, Oklahoma.

His father worked during the war at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in San Francisco Bay.

Sources: the Los Gatos (California) Mail-News; The San Jose (California) Evening News; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; Census; military registration card. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.