World War II Honoree

Charles Luther Murdock

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Henagar, Alabama

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Water Tender First Class. Inducted into the United States Navy December 17, 1940 at Birmingham, Alabama, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Upon his graduation from boot camp, and Boiler Room Training, he was transferred to the USS Arizona Battleship, BB-39 for duty responsible for tending to the boilers fires, and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1941 the Emperor of Japan and his Naval Aviators launched their well-planned attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu. The Arizona along with her shipmates lay moored on Ford Island came under attack, and she was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb, igniting the ship’s forward ammunition magazine. Reported missing in action or buried at sea on the day of the attack. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.