Charles Andrew Boyd was born on February 16, 1919 to Charles Hendrix and Hattie Lou Miller Boyd in Henry County, Alabama. He had five younger brothers and four younger sisters as of April 1940. His father was a farmer. In 1920, the family was living in Balkum, Henry County; in 1930, they were in Urquhart, Early County, Georgia; and in 1940 , in Cowarts, Houston County, Alabama, with his grandparents living with them.

Charles enlisted in he US Navy on April 17, 1940 in Dothan in Houston County and at Mariana, Florida. He took the Naval Oath in Birmingham, Alabama, and then went to the US Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia for Basic Naval Training. From there, he boarded a ship for service. On March 22, 1941, he was assigned to the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39), and was on it's Muster Roll dated September 30, 1941. He had the rank of Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class, Service # 2723048.

In April 1940, the USS Arizona and the rest of the Pacific Fleet were transferred from California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a deterrent to Japanese imperialism. On 7 December 1941, Arizona was hit by Japanese torpedo bombers that dropped armor-piercing bombs during the attack on Pearl Harbor. After one of their bombs detonated in a magazine, she exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor beneath the USS Arizona Memorial. Dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, the memorial straddles but does not touch the ship's hull.

Shortly before 08:00 local time on 7 December 1941, Japanese aircraft from six aircraft carriers struck the Pacific Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor, and wreaked devastation on the warships and installations defending Hawaii. On board Arizona, the ship's air raid alarm went off at about 07:55, and the ship went to general quarters soon after. Shortly after 08:00, 10 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers, five each from the carriers Kaga and Hiryū, attacked Arizona. All of the aircraft were carrying 41-centimeter (16.1 in) armor-piercing shells modified into 797-kilogram (1,757 lb) bombs. Flying at an estimated altitude of 3,000 meters (9,800 ft), Kaga's aircraft bombed Arizona from amidships to stern. Soon after, Hiryū's bombers hit the bow area.

The aircraft scored four hits and three near misses on and around Arizona. The near miss off the port bow is thought to have caused observers to believe that the ship had been torpedoed, although no torpedo damage has been found. The sternmost bomb ricocheted off the face of Turret IV and penetrated the deck to detonate in the captain's pantry, causing a small fire. The next forward most hit was near the port edge of the ship, abreast the mainmast, probably detonating in the area of the anti-torpedo bulkhead. The next bomb struck near the port rear 5-inch AA gun.

The last bomb hit at 08:06 in the vicinity of Turret II, likely penetrating the armored deck near the magazines located in the forward section of the ship. While not enough of the ship is intact to judge the exact location, its effects are indisputable: about seven seconds after the hit, the forward magazines detonated in a cataclysmic explosion, mostly venting through the sides of the ship and destroying much of the interior structure of the forward part of the ship. This caused the forward turrets and conning tower to collapse downward some 25–30 feet (7.6–9.1 m) and the foremast and funnel to collapse forward, effectively tearing the ship in half.[50]The explosion touched off fierce fires that burned for two days; debris showered down on Ford Island in the vicinity. The blast from this explosion also put out fires on the repair ship Vestal, which was moored alongside.[51] The bombs and subsequent explosion killed 1,177 of the 1,512 crewmen on board at the time, approximately half of the lives lost during the attack.

On December 7, 1941, Charles was declared missing in action (MIA) and in January 1942, he was declared dead while missing. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and Purple Heart. is memory is honored at the Arizona Memorial; Tablets of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), Honolulu, Hawaii (Memorial ID 7885404); and at New Zion Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery, Tumbleton, Henry County, Alabama (Memorial ID 93504620).

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 smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

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SBTSProject/Alabama/Henry

References:

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=13502

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/157229027/person/152079342431/facts?_phsrc=kAk1&_phstart=successSource

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7885404/charles-andrew-boyd

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2462/images/40034_B086854-00414?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=kAk2&_phstart=successSource&pId=22989

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_(BB-39)

Dothan Eagle: 12/22/1941; 12/23/1941; 1/21/1942; 2/4/1942; 7/30/1943