- Name of Record: Harry Anderson (n)
- Branch: United States Navy
- Service Number: 382 23 14
- Rate: S1/c (Seaman First Class)
- Duties: Know naval drill duties, knots, steering and signaling. Stand watch and gunnery duties.
- Enlisted: 25 July 1940
- Place: Los Angeles, California
- Onboard USS Arizona: 14 October 1940
- From: NTS San Diego
- Birth Name: Harry Anderson** - unverified (see notes)
- Date of Birth: 25 July 1920** - unverified (see notes)
- Place of Birth: New York** - unverified (see notes)
- School: Not Known
- Hometown / State on December 1941: Compton, California
- Next of Kin: Mrs. Mary Chamberlain - Mother
- Address: 11209 Pope Ave., Compton, California (incorrectly shown as Lynwood, CA in the Casualty Books)
- Parents: Father: unknown; Step-Father: Douglas J. Chamberlain; Mother: Mary Ann Schane Anderson Chamberlain
- Disposition: Unrecoverable – Among the 900+ souls still onboard the USS Arizona
- Posthumous Awards: Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal w/Fleet Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/Star, WWII Victory Medal
*Note: According to USS Arizona Survivor, Vincent James "Jim" Vlach, the use of (n) after a name on the muster rolls designates no middle name (not used on final ROC).
**My Notes (still researching):
I have been unable to verify Harry Anderson's date and place of birth.
The 1930 census, dated April 2, shows him as Harry J Anderson and 11 years old (estimated birth year 1919) and the 1940 census, dated April 8, shows him as Harry Anderson and 20 years old (estimated birth year 1920 though his birthday would not have been for 3 more months). I have not found a New York or New Jersey birth certificate for Harry Anderson born 25 July 1920. There are several Harry Andersons born in New York on other dates in 1920 but none to a mother named Mary except for the family mentioned below.
In the 1930 census, his place of birth shows as New Jersey (same as his mother). The 1940 census shows him born in New York (mother in New Jersey). I can find no record of him or his mother living in New York at any time.
Many unverified sources show his father as Harry and mother as Mary but when researched, this couple did live in New York and had a son, Harry, of the right age but this family is still shown in New York in the 1930 & 1940 census reports. Some other unverified sources have a death date of 1929 for the father (some with the father's name as Harry and others have father's name unknown but again, all unverified) but I am taking an educated guess this is because by 1930, Mary was remarried to Douglas Chamberlain and living at 3517 Orchard Ave., Lynwood, CA. In 1940, they are living at 11209 Pope Ave., Compton, CA.
Harry had 2 much younger half-sibblings, Darwin Chamberlain and Barbara Jean Chamberlain (Douglas & Mary's children). Harry also had an older step-brother, Robert D. Chamberlain, (Douglas & Ruth R. Chamberlain's son).
I have found over the years that people anxious to gather information for distant relatives have a tendency to use unverified information that eventually gets copied to other family trees and bleeds over into other internet and printed sources and then, after time, this information becomes "fact". This is unfortunate and it becomes very hard to set the record straight. I have been researching the Arizona for nearly 30 years and yet there is still so much left unknown.
If anyone has information that can verify or untangle Harry Anderson's history, please