Ralph “Red” Hollis was a Palm Beach, Florida police officer and radio expert when he was called to active duty in the Naval Reserve in May 1941.

He left behind his wife and young daughters and on Sept. 18, 1941 was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona, working in the communications room. He was promoted from ensign to lieutenant junior grade the month before he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Six days earlier, he had written to his mother, Amma Pennington Hollis, predicting: “Within a week we will be at war with Japan.”

Mr. Hollis was born Sept. 10, 1906 at Crawfordville, Georgia, where his father, Edwy Hollis, farmed. The son graduated from Mansfield High School  40 miles southeast of Atlanta in 1923. He enlisted in the Navy that same year and served until 1926.

He was issued an amateur radio operator license in 1928. He became an ensign in the Naval Reserve in 1934 and specialized in training radiomen.

He was a firefighter for the city of Palm Beach before joining the police department. He was a lieutenant and oversaw the police department’s radio station and radio operations by the time he went on active duty. He was granted leave by the city to do that.

He married Hermione Campbell on New Year’s Day 1929 in Florida. They had two daughters, Hermione Louise and Mary Ann.

A destroyer escort named in Mr. Hollis’ memory was launched in September 1943. Its construction was sponsored by war bond sales in Palm Beach County.

A second man killed on the Arizona, Claude Edward Rich, was a teen when he took radio instruction from Mr. Hollis back home in Palm Beach. Mr. Rich, 19, enlisted in the Navy in September 1940 because he wanted a better job. He hoped that the Navy might help him learn more about radio and advance in that field. It was by chance that both were assigned to the Arizona.