COX Stanley Paul Menzenski

Stanley Paul Menzenski was born Sept. 5, 1921 in New York. His mother, Sophia Nowicki Menzenski, was a winder at a carpet factory and his father, Vincent Menzenski, a laborer at a sugar refinery. The parents were Polish immigrants.

Young Mr. Menzenski studied at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in Yonkers, New York,  and the family attended St. Casimir’s Catholic Church. He enlisted in the Navy on Nov. 22, 1939.

He 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.

Both of his brothers served in the war. Paul Edward flew more than 30 missions as an armorer-gunner on a B-24 bomber. Army records say Alvin Peter served in the Army, but his obituary said it was the Navy.

Sources: the Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal; The U.S. Department of Defense; Census; Navy muster roll; Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1666 in Yonkers, NY; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.