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S1c Rupert Clair Gove
Rupert Clair “Bert” Gove was born Sept. 27, 1920 in California to Romaldo Gove and Laura Adrian Gove.
The 1930 Census showed the family living in Oakland, where the father was a salesman at a gas station and the mother a homemaker.
Bert attended Berkeley High School and enlisted in the Navy on July 30, 1940.
He was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
For fun, he competed as a heavyweight on the ship’s wrestling team, which competed against sailors from other ships.
His older brother, Clifford, served in the Army and survived the war.
Sources: the Oakland (California) Tribune; the Argus of Fremont, California; the Walla Walla (Washington) Union Bulletin; 1942 Berkeley High yearbook; Census; Navy muster roll; California birth index; Veterans Affairs death file; At ‘Em Arizona newsletter of Nov. 9, 1940. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.