William Howard Poe Sr.

Pearl Harbor Survivor and Hero dies at age 89.
William Howard Poe Sr., one of the diminishing number
of veterans of the attack in Pearl Harbor, has died.
Born November 24, 1917, in Mt. Vernon, Faulkner County
AR, he died May 11, 2007, at Seattle's Veterans
Hospital from Parkinson's Disease complications. He
was 89 years old. 
Memorial services are open to the public and will take
place at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, May 20, at Solie Funeral
Home, 3301 Colby Avenue, Everett, WA. Poe will later
receive a full military burial in Arlintgon, Virginia.
A WW II Hero, Poe was an Expert Rifleman and Technical
Sergeant in the US Marine Corps, stationed in Hawaii
February 1941 to February 1943. He shot down the first
Japanese war plane during the attacks December 7, 1941
in Pearl Harbor with a Springfield 1903 rifle using
tracer bullets. No wounds in service. Awarded medal of
Good Conduct. A rich military history, Poe was a
descendent of General David Poe, a General in the
Revolutionary War and adopted father of Edgar Allan
Poe. 
After leaving the military, Poe earned his B.S. in
Education from Arkansas State Teachers College and
worked as an educator for years, later working as a
merchant with his partner and wife Lela Poe in thier
privately owned and operated grocery stores in Vallejo
and Templeton, Ca. 
He was the son of Benjamin H. Poe Sr. of Faulkner
County, AR and Sarah Flowers, of Mt. Vernon, AR. In
1943, Poe married Mary Lucille Compton (deceased) in
Little Rock, AR, where they had four children. He
survived two, Anna Jane Prater and Sherrie Lynn
Breslin. 
He leaves behind his children, Tom Poe, of Everett, WA
and William H. Poe Jr., of Kansas; as well as 10
grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and one
great-great granddaughter. 
Poe was a proud member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors
Association which counts fewer than 4,600 remaining of
the 85,000 servicemen and women there during the
attack. He loved to dance, listen to and sing
old-timey music and hymns, and spent the last few
years of his life enjoying traveling and living with
his son, Tom Poe, in Everett, WA. He was a hero to all
and will be greatly missed. 

Published in The Herald (Everett) on 5/16/2007.