Ensign Howard Deal Merrill was a native of Ogden, Utah and was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Ensign Merrill died aboard the Arizona and still remains in the hull of the USS Arizona today. This memorial is located at the Aultorest Cemetery in Ogden, Utah.
The USS Merrill DE392 was commissioned in his honor.
USS Merrill (DE-392) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
She was named in honor of Ensign Howard Deal Merrill who was declared dead as of 7 December 1941, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
USNA CLASS OF 1940 GRADUATE
Name: Howard Deal Merrill
Branch: United States Navy
Service Number: 085057
Rate: ENS (Ensign) Division M
Commissioned: 6 June 1940
Onboard USS Arizona: 29 June 1940
From: Naval Academy
Administrative Duty: Engineer Watch & Division
Collateral Duty: Sailing
Battle Station: Central Engine Room
Date of Birth: 16 December 1917
Place of Birth: Provo, Utah
Hometown / State December 1941: Ogden, Utah
Next of Kin: Mr. Leslie S. Merrill - Father
Address: 2761 Harrison Ave., Ogden, Utah
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
In one of his final letters home, Howard Deal Merrill wrote, "The salt water is certainly getting into my blood. I've never been happier than when I am at sea."
A shipmate on the U.S.S. Arizona later said that Mr. Merrill was such a good swimmer that he frequently swam out of sight of companions.
He was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Provo, Utah. His mother, Eliza Dottie, died a month later. His father, Leslie, a doctor, remarried when the boy was three.
Mr. Merrill graduated from Ogden High School, then attended Weber College, now Weber State University, in 1935-36. He was then appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating on June 6, 1940, and commissioned as an ensign.
The academy's yearbook, the Lucky Bag, wrote this of him: "Howard was one westerner who really didn't have to go far away to taste salt water. Plebe summer and plebe year were easy for him because he learned quickly that the Commandant's cat ranked above a plebe. He was a confirmed "Red Mike," for he found interest in things that never disturbed one's sleep or studies; he is one of the gifted few that know what to leave alone. Academics were just an easy hurdle to him, with a view of better things yet to come. Hailing from the Rockies, he brought a little of their ruggedness and determination with him. Once Ute makes up his mind, not even dynamite can change it."
He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Merrill, was launched in August 1943 in Houston. His sister Dorothy was its sponsor.
American Legion Post 9 in Ogden is named Baker-Merrill in honor of Mr. Merrill and another local man, Herman Baker, who died in World War I.
Sources: The Salt Lake City Tribune; the Ogden Standard-Examiner; Weber College newspaper, the Signpost; 1940 Naval Academy yearbook;, mother's death certificate; application for military headstone or grave marker. Naval Academy photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Contributor: USS Arizona Mall Memorial at University of Arizona (50022871)
The USS Merrill DE392 was commissioned in his honor.
USS Merrill (DE-392) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
She was named in honor of Ensign Howard Deal Merrill who was declared dead as of 7 December 1941, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
USNA CLASS OF 1940 GRADUATE
Name: Howard Deal Merrill
Branch: United States Navy
Service Number: 085057
Rate: ENS (Ensign) Division M
Commissioned: 6 June 1940
Onboard USS Arizona: 29 June 1940
From: Naval Academy
Administrative Duty: Engineer Watch & Division
Collateral Duty: Sailing
Battle Station: Central Engine Room
Date of Birth: 16 December 1917
Place of Birth: Provo, Utah
Hometown / State December 1941: Ogden, Utah
Next of Kin: Mr. Leslie S. Merrill - Father
Address: 2761 Harrison Ave., Ogden, Utah
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
In one of his final letters home, Howard Deal Merrill wrote, "The salt water is certainly getting into my blood. I've never been happier than when I am at sea."
A shipmate on the U.S.S. Arizona later said that Mr. Merrill was such a good swimmer that he frequently swam out of sight of companions.
He was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Provo, Utah. His mother, Eliza Dottie, died a month later. His father, Leslie, a doctor, remarried when the boy was three.
Mr. Merrill graduated from Ogden High School, then attended Weber College, now Weber State University, in 1935-36. He was then appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating on June 6, 1940, and commissioned as an ensign.
The academy's yearbook, the Lucky Bag, wrote this of him: "Howard was one westerner who really didn't have to go far away to taste salt water. Plebe summer and plebe year were easy for him because he learned quickly that the Commandant's cat ranked above a plebe. He was a confirmed "Red Mike," for he found interest in things that never disturbed one's sleep or studies; he is one of the gifted few that know what to leave alone. Academics were just an easy hurdle to him, with a view of better things yet to come. Hailing from the Rockies, he brought a little of their ruggedness and determination with him. Once Ute makes up his mind, not even dynamite can change it."
He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Merrill, was launched in August 1943 in Houston. His sister Dorothy was its sponsor.
American Legion Post 9 in Ogden is named Baker-Merrill in honor of Mr. Merrill and another local man, Herman Baker, who died in World War I.
Sources: The Salt Lake City Tribune; the Ogden Standard-Examiner; Weber College newspaper, the Signpost; 1940 Naval Academy yearbook;, mother's death certificate; application for military headstone or grave marker. Naval Academy photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Contributor: USS Arizona Mall Memorial at University of Arizona (50022871)
Ensign Howard Deal Merrill was a native of Ogden, Utah and was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Ensign Merrill died aboard the Arizona and still remains in the hull of the USS Arizona today. This memorial is located at the Aultorest Cemetery in Ogden, Utah.
The USS Merrill DE392 was commissioned in his honor.
USS Merrill (DE-392) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
She was named in honor of Ensign Howard Deal Merrill who was declared dead as of 7 December 1941, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
USNA CLASS OF 1940 GRADUATE
Name: Howard Deal Merrill
Branch: United States Navy
Service Number: 085057
Rate: ENS (Ensign) Division M
Commissioned: 6 June 1940
Onboard USS Arizona: 29 June 1940
From: Naval Academy
Administrative Duty: Engineer Watch & Division
Collateral Duty: Sailing
Battle Station: Central Engine Room
Date of Birth: 16 December 1917
Place of Birth: Provo, Utah
Hometown / State December 1941: Ogden, Utah
Next of Kin: Mr. Leslie S. Merrill - Father
Address: 2761 Harrison Ave., Ogden, Utah
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
In one of his final letters home, Howard Deal Merrill wrote, "The salt water is certainly getting into my blood. I've never been happier than when I am at sea."
A shipmate on the U.S.S. Arizona later said that Mr. Merrill was such a good swimmer that he frequently swam out of sight of companions.
He was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Provo, Utah. His mother, Eliza Dottie, died a month later. His father, Leslie, a doctor, remarried when the boy was three.
Mr. Merrill graduated from Ogden High School, then attended Weber College, now Weber State University, in 1935-36. He was then appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating on June 6, 1940, and commissioned as an ensign.
The academy's yearbook, the Lucky Bag, wrote this of him: "Howard was one westerner who really didn't have to go far away to taste salt water. Plebe summer and plebe year were easy for him because he learned quickly that the Commandant's cat ranked above a plebe. He was a confirmed "Red Mike," for he found interest in things that never disturbed one's sleep or studies; he is one of the gifted few that know what to leave alone. Academics were just an easy hurdle to him, with a view of better things yet to come. Hailing from the Rockies, he brought a little of their ruggedness and determination with him. Once Ute makes up his mind, not even dynamite can change it."
He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Merrill, was launched in August 1943 in Houston. His sister Dorothy was its sponsor.
American Legion Post 9 in Ogden is named Baker-Merrill in honor of Mr. Merrill and another local man, Herman Baker, who died in World War I.
Sources: The Salt Lake City Tribune; the Ogden Standard-Examiner; Weber College newspaper, the Signpost; 1940 Naval Academy yearbook;, mother's death certificate; application for military headstone or grave marker. Naval Academy photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Contributor: USS Arizona Mall Memorial at University of Arizona (50022871)
The USS Merrill DE392 was commissioned in his honor.
USS Merrill (DE-392) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
She was named in honor of Ensign Howard Deal Merrill who was declared dead as of 7 December 1941, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
USNA CLASS OF 1940 GRADUATE
Name: Howard Deal Merrill
Branch: United States Navy
Service Number: 085057
Rate: ENS (Ensign) Division M
Commissioned: 6 June 1940
Onboard USS Arizona: 29 June 1940
From: Naval Academy
Administrative Duty: Engineer Watch & Division
Collateral Duty: Sailing
Battle Station: Central Engine Room
Date of Birth: 16 December 1917
Place of Birth: Provo, Utah
Hometown / State December 1941: Ogden, Utah
Next of Kin: Mr. Leslie S. Merrill - Father
Address: 2761 Harrison Ave., Ogden, Utah
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
In one of his final letters home, Howard Deal Merrill wrote, "The salt water is certainly getting into my blood. I've never been happier than when I am at sea."
A shipmate on the U.S.S. Arizona later said that Mr. Merrill was such a good swimmer that he frequently swam out of sight of companions.
He was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Provo, Utah. His mother, Eliza Dottie, died a month later. His father, Leslie, a doctor, remarried when the boy was three.
Mr. Merrill graduated from Ogden High School, then attended Weber College, now Weber State University, in 1935-36. He was then appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating on June 6, 1940, and commissioned as an ensign.
The academy's yearbook, the Lucky Bag, wrote this of him: "Howard was one westerner who really didn't have to go far away to taste salt water. Plebe summer and plebe year were easy for him because he learned quickly that the Commandant's cat ranked above a plebe. He was a confirmed "Red Mike," for he found interest in things that never disturbed one's sleep or studies; he is one of the gifted few that know what to leave alone. Academics were just an easy hurdle to him, with a view of better things yet to come. Hailing from the Rockies, he brought a little of their ruggedness and determination with him. Once Ute makes up his mind, not even dynamite can change it."
He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941, in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Merrill, was launched in August 1943 in Houston. His sister Dorothy was its sponsor.
American Legion Post 9 in Ogden is named Baker-Merrill in honor of Mr. Merrill and another local man, Herman Baker, who died in World War I.
Sources: The Salt Lake City Tribune; the Ogden Standard-Examiner; Weber College newspaper, the Signpost; 1940 Naval Academy yearbook;, mother's death certificate; application for military headstone or grave marker. Naval Academy photograph. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Contributor: USS Arizona Mall Memorial at University of Arizona (50022871)
