MATT2c Willard Hardy Hurd,
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MATT2c Willard Hardy Hurd
Willard Hardy Hurd was born February 10, 1921 in Collierville, Tennessee – about 25 miles east of Memphis – the son of Charles Hurd and Beulah Mae Duckett Hurd. The father was a farmer and the mother a homemaker.
By April 1930 Willard was the oldest of three sons and a daughter. At a later date he moved – possibly with his father – to Whitehaven a neighborhood about 10 miles south of downtown Memphis. The son was an honor graduate of Geeter High School in 1940.
The father died some time before Aug. 9 of that year, which is when the son applied to join the Navy. He formally enlisted on Aug. 20 and started earning $21 a month.
Young Mr. Hurd was a mess attendant second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 – his mother’s 38th birthday.
His job was part of the Messman Branch — the only branch open to African-American men in the segregated Navy dating to the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. Messmen cooked, cleaned, and performed other services. They could advance to become a petty officer first class as a steward or cook for officers, but that was their limit.
Mr. Hurd was honored at a ceremony at Mount Nebo Baptist Church in Memphis in February 1942. Beulah Hurd died in 1945.