Arthur Aaron Herron was born on May 27, 1922 in Montgomery, Alabama to Arthur Rufus Herron and Fannie Mae (Jackson) Herron. Arthur was a native of Butler County, Alabama and married Fannie in 1919 in her home county of Montgomery. Authur made his living as a house painter. He and Fannie had five children – Francine, Arthur, Willard, Ruth and Paul.

Arthur Aaron Herron, who was named for his father Arthur and grandfather Aaron, is show in the 1940 census at the age of 17, living with his family on Plum Street in Montgomery, Alabama. He had completed 8 years of school and was working as a painter in a hotel. On October 13, 1940, Arthur married Sarah Katherine Talton of Montgomery in a ceremony that took place in neighboring Elmore County, Alabama. He gave his age as 21 and his occupation as decorator, and she gave her age as 18 and her occupation as waitress. According to other records, neither was actually of legal age to marry without parental permission.

On June 30, 1942 Arthur registered for the draft in Montgomery, Alabama. He gave his mother as his next of kin, and the Whitley Hotel as his place of employment. The Montgomery City Directory for 1942 gave his employment as the assistant engineer for the Whitley Hotel.

Arthur avoided the draft by voluntarily enlisting in the U.S. Navy Reserves. The date of his enlistment is unknown because the only U.S. Navy Muster Roll in which he appears does not give that information. According to his obituary, he trained at Camp Wallace, Texas before going overseas. Camp Wallace was transferred to the U.S. Navy on April 15, 1944 and was used as a naval training and distribution center and as a boot camp.

On September 30, 1944, Seaman Second Class Arthur Aaron Herron is shown in the U.S. Navy Muster Rolls of the Receiving Station at Camp Elliott in San Diego, California. He is listed as an alternate for transfer to Pearl Harbor via LST (Tank Landing Ship) 1031. It is not believed that he was permanently assigned to LST-1031, because that craft saw action in the Pacific only at Okinawa in May and June 1945. S2c Herron was killed in action on February 19, 1945 at Iwo Jima, Japan, reportedly with the Fourth Marines. He had served six months in the Pacific, according to his obituary.

S2c Arthur A. Herron’s remains were returned home in 1948 aboard the U.S. Army Transport M. Poe, along with those of 36 other Alabama servicemen who had been buried in temporary military cemeteries at Iwo Jima, Guam and Tinian. Military services were held at White Chapel in Montgomery, Alabama with burial in Montgomery Memorial Cemetery. Seaman Herron was survived by his wife and a daughter, Sandra Mae Herron, as well as his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

Thank you, Seaman Herron, for your service and your sacrifice. You will not be forgotten.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. SBTSProject/Alabama/Montgomery.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at dbsmail1315@charter.net.

Sources:

· 1930 United States Federal Census

· 1940 United States Federal Census

· Alabama, County Marriages, 1805-1967

· U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

· U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

· U.S World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949

· U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861-1985

· U.S. World War II Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Casualties, 1941-1945

· U.S. Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941

· Alabama, WWII Military Dead and Wounded, 1944-1946

· Newspapers.com, Montgomery Advertiser, 18 Mar 1945, 16 May 1948, 16 Jun 1945

· https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109639655/arthur-aaron-herron

Arthur A Herron