S1c Verrell Roy Heater

Verrel Roy Heater was born June 24, 1918 near Ladd Hill, Oregon 20 miles southwest of Portland to Asa “Roy” Heater, then a lumber mill employee, and Hallie Knecht Heater, a homemaker.

He enlisted in the Marines in July 1936. A muster roll for August 1937 listed him as a private attached to the U.S.S. Arizona at San Pedro, California, His brother Vernon, older by a year, was also a private on that muster roll.

Public records don’t make clear why, but in November 1940 Verrel enlisted in the Navy. He was a seaman first class on the Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Another brother, Wallace, was an Army tech sergeant when he was killed at the Battle of Anzio in Italy on Jan. 30, 1944. A fourth brother, William served in the Army from 1942 to 1945.

There is a cenotaph for Verrel Heater at Pleasant View Cemetery in Hoodview, Oregon, where his parents are buried.

Sources: The Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon; Marine and Navy muster rolls; Census; cemetery markers; Musgrove Family Mortuary of Eugene, Oregon; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.