Robert Paul Laderach was born May 8, 1917 near Beverly in northeast West Virginia. He was the son of a Swiss immigrant, Ernest Laderach, and a native West Virginian, Mary Adams Laderach. The father was a farmer and the mother a homemaker. They had six children.

Robert attended high school at Beverly and joined the Navy on Oct. 5, 1937. He was a fire controlman and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

The West Virginia Legislature named a bridge on U.S. Route 219 over Files Creek near Beverly in his memory. About 6 miles north there is a cenotaph for him at Hazelwood Cemetery at Elkins, West Virginia. His parents are buried there.

His brothers served in the Army — Ernest during World War II and William R. during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Sources: The Intermountain of Elkins, West Virginia; Navy enlistment records; West Virginia Veterans Memorial; West Virginia marriage record; cenotaph and grave markers; West Virginia Legislature, Senate concurrent resolution 44.  This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.