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ENS Thomas Raymond Jones
Thomas Raymond “Ray” Jones was born March 31, 1918 in Mississippi but grew up in Tallulah, Louisiana, in the northeast part of the state. His father, Harvey, was a jeweler and his mother, Susie, a homemaker.
He graduated from Tallulah High School and attended Louisiana State University for two years. He left in late 1940 to enroll in a Naval Reserve midshipmen’s school and was commissioned an ensign on Feb. 28, 1941.
Mr. Jones was killed Dec. 7, 1941 on the U.S.S. Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was probably at his battle station in the forward battle lookout. That would have been high up on the foremast above the ship’s superstructure and slightly behind where its forward magazines ignited from a Japanese bomb, destroying the forward half of the ship
Sources: Census; Monroe (Louisiana) News Star; The Times of Shreveport, Louisiana; Navy muster rolls; 1937 Louisiana State University yearbook, the Gumbo. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.