By Deborah Larsen
Louis Horace Campbell
Louis Horace Campbell was born in Rochester, Michigan, on December 15, 1925, the son of Horace and Evangeline Brannack Campbell. The Campbell family lived on South Street, and Louis attended Rochester High School. Before the war, he worked as a shipping clerk for the Ward Company in Rochester.
In February 1943, Louis enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. He was serving aboard a Liberty ship carrying troops for the invasion of Leyte in 1944. On Thanksgiving Day, 1944, a Japanese airplane torpedoed Louis’s ship in the starboard side, forward. “Hellzapoppin would be a good name for what happened then,” Louis told the Rochester Clarion. “Gasoline in the tanks of the truck caught fire and the ammunition started exploding. In a few seconds, flames were roaring upward, and the forward part of the ship was completely cut off from the midships and after portion.” Louis survived the ordeal and returned to the U.S. in April 1945. He was released from military service in January 1946.
After the war, Louis married, started a family, and worked for Pontiac Motors.
Louis Horace Campbell died at age 51 on June 17, 1977, and was laid to rest in White Chapel Cemetery.