George Arthur Filkins was born Jan. 6, 1922 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. That’s where his father, Sgt. William Henry Filkins, served in the Army quartermaster detachment. His mother, Lydia Chapin Filkins, was a homemaker.

The son was 14 when his father, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, died after an extended illness. His mother went to work as a laundress, according to the 1940 Census. The son completed his schooling after 8th grade at Nokomis Junior High in Minneapolis.

Mr. Filkins enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 24, 1940, and was a coxswain and petty officer third class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

There is a cenotaph in his memory at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. His parents are buried there.