Russell John Durio was born April 30, 1921 in Louisiana.
He joined the Marines on Oct. 12, 1940, and was a private first class when he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now known as the University of Louisiana Lafayette.
His father, Simon Durio, was a machinist at a garage and later police chief of Sunset, Louisiana, population 630. His mother, Marie Alcidie Durio, was a homemaker.
Sources: Daily World of Opelousas, Louisiana; Crowley Daily Signal of Crowley, Louisiana; Census; grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.