S1c Ted "W" Jr. Hampton

Ted W. Hampton Jr., was born April 27, 1922 to Ted W. Hampton Sr., an electrical engineer, and Flossie Coplin Hampton, a homemaker, in Okemah, Oklahoma. It was then a booming oil town 70 miles east of Oklahoma City.

Ted attended school in Okemah and was active in the marching band. He was known as the whistler, and frequently whistled at assemblies. He also was a member of the brass sextet that qualified for the state competition in 1940, the year he graduated.

During school he clerked for three years at a variety store.

Ted enlisted in the Navy on Aug. 6, 1940, and was a seaman first class when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

His brother Fred joined the Army following the attack and served in World War II as a medic in the Pacific. Fred also served in the Korean conflict with the U.S. Air Force, then returned to Japan. He served in the military until 1963.

Ted was preceded in death by his mother in 1935.

The leader of the Boy Scout troop to which Ted Hampton belonged told the Okemah Daily Leader that “you can’t say too many things about Ted. He was a swell fellow, a good Scout and was well liked by all who knew him.”

Source: Many thanks to Jana L. Mott, Ted’s niece, for researching much of this profile. She also provided the photograph, which Ted had taken in San Diego and gave to his family. Special thanks, also, to volunteers at the Okfuskee County Historical Society in Okemah for sharing their files. Other sources: Oklahoma Historical Society; the Okemah Daily News; and the Okemah News Leader. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.