Luther J. Isom

Luther James “Luke” Isom was born on Feb. 24, 1921, in Madison County.

In 1940, Luke had graduated from West Huntsville High School, and he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Oct. 5, 1940. Two months later, he joined the crew of the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona on December 4, 1941.  A Seaman First Class gunner’s mate serving on board the U.S.S. Arizona, Isom was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that triggered the U.S. entry into the war.  On Dec. 7, 1941, the Arizona was hit in less than 10 minutes by four Japanese bombs, the last of which penetrated the armored deck near the ammunition magazines located in the forward section of the ship. The magazines detonated, tearing the ship in half and killing 1,177 of the 1,512 crewmen on board the Arizona at the time. 

He was one of only 107 men from the Arizona whose bodies were recovered and identified.  Isom was severely wounded and died from those wounds on December 10,1941. Isom was buried in Honolulu until the end of the war; and returned to Madison County in 1947 for a funeral at West Huntsville School on Nov. 2 attended by more than 300 people.  A few weeks later, the City of Huntsville established the military section of Maple Hill Cemetery, and Isom was reinterred there on Nov. 26, 1947, the first to be buried there.

Luther J. Isom earned the following awards-all posthumously:

• Purple Heart

• Combat Action Ribbon

• American Campaign Medal

• Navy Presidential Unit Citation

• Navy Good Conduct Medal

• American Defense Service Medal w/Fleet Clasp

• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/Star

• Navy Expeditionary Medal

• WWII Victory Medal