POTTS, Howard Kenton - Cox USN
POTTS, Howard Kenton - Cox USN

Howard Kenton Potts, Cox
Howard Kenton "Ken" Potts
Coxswain
Howard Kenton Potts, Cox
Ken Potts 2010
USS Arizona ROC
  • Name of Record: Howard Kenton "Ken" Potts
  • Branch: United States Navy
  • Service Number: - Hidden for Privacy of Family
  • Rate: Cox (Coxswain)
  • Duties: Work with canvas and handle boats. Know signaling.
  • Enlisted: 4 October 1939
  • Place: St. Louis, Missouri
  • Onboard USS Arizona: 31 December 1939
  • From: NTS Great Lakes
  • Birth Name: Howard Kenton Potts
  • Date of Birth: 15 April 1921
  • Place of Birth: Honey Bend, Illinois
  • Date of Death: 21 April 2023
  • Place of Death: Provo, Utah
  • Parents: Joseph Edgar Potts & Clara Esther Baker Potts

Ken Potts was loading fruits and vegetables for the crew when the attack happened. He climbed into the ship and helped evacuate all of the wounded sailors. A few weeks later, Potts was given a new assignment with classified information, and the FBI had to check on him. He discharged from the Navy in 1945. Ken Potts and his wife moved to Provo, Utah. In 2011, he went back to Honolulu to commemorate the 70th anniversary.


Video from American Veterans Center
Photo and Service information from the Vincent J. Vlach, USN Ret., (USS Arizona Survivor & Ship's Historian) and I. B. Nease, USNR Ret., (USS Arizona Historian) Collections [privately held collections]
Other Information, Documents, and/or Photos provided by N. A. Nease [privately held collection]
Information researched and compiled by N. A. Nease.
May not be reprinted in any form, other than non-profit educational, without prior written permission of the author.