On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, the large extended family of Rhodes and Lyda, living in the Gerton and Edneyville communities, heard on the radio about the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Family members knew 21-year-old Mark Alexander Rhodes was a seaman first class aboard the USS Arizona, which sank during the attack.
“There were anxious days as we waited, not knowing,” said Mary Ritchie, younger sister of Rhodes. “It took a while before we knew anything.”
There was no e-mail or phone service in the early 1940s to the Bearwallow Mountain homes. There was not a car pulling in the driveway with a uniformed officer coming to the door.
There was just a telegram, mailed through the U.S. Postal Service. It was dated Dec. 15, 1941, and postmarked at 10 a.m. Dec. 16. The envelope was addressed to Stella Lyda Rhodes Suttles, the mother of Mark Rhodes.
“The Navy Department deeply regrets to inform you that your son Mark Alexander Rhodes, seaman first class U.S. Navy, was lost in action in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country,” the telegram stated.
It was signed by Rear Adm. C.W. Nimitz.
The surprise and well-planned attack by the Japanese on the military bases in Hawaii, beginning at 5 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, brought the United States into World War II.
More than 2,400 American men and women died with more than 2,000 wounded in the one-day attack.

Mark Alexander Rhodes

Rhodes grew up with three brothers and two sisters on Bearwallow Mountain. His father, Arthur Rhodes, died while the children were still young.
“He was four years older than I was,” Ritchie said. “We had a real hard life. Our father died when I was 3. We owned our farm and my mother was able to get by.
“Mostly, the boys worked,” she said. “They had to keep the farm going. After school, Mark cut wood, milked the cows and built fires for cooking and heating.”
Education was important to the family, she said. All but Mark were graduates of the former Edneyville High School. He was a graduate of a high school in Rutherford County because he spent his senior year living with his sister there, Ritchie said.
“He attended Edneyville every year but his senior year,” she said. “He was very loving. My brothers and sister made it possible for me to have a college education.”
There were few jobs in the late 1930s in Henderson County, Ritchie said. All four young men chose to join the military.
“Mark was the last to go in,” she said. “He was outgoing and enjoyed life. Before the attack, he was getting tired of the Pacific. He was homesick.”
“He was home on leave in November 1940,” said first cousin Don Rhodes of Henderson County. “I was only 11, but I remember going to visit and seeing him in his Navy uniform. My sister got a letter from him in April 1941 congratulating her on her graduation from high school.”
Don Rhodes said his family went to visit Howard Rhodes, the older brother, the week before Christmas in 1941. Howard was in the Army, based in Florida.
“My mother and dad and Mary, his sister, spent a week with Howard,” he said.
Brother Jay was serving in the Marine Corps and Chester was in the Army Air Corps. Jay Rhodes later died in 1951 on Heartbreak Ridge, serving with the Marines in the Korean War.
“They were all dedicated to military service and serving their country,” Rhodes said.
“My family was hit doubly hard,” Ritchie said. “War is a terrible thing and I feel for anyone who has loved ones serving in the Middle East today.”
Ritchie made a trip to Hawaii in 1988. She visited the USS Arizona National Memorial, where many sailors remain entombed within the ship which rests at the bottom of the harbor.
“Mark is at Punch Bowl in Hawaii,” Ritchie said. “They recovered his body and he was buried in the veterans’ cemetery, Punch Bowl. I’m glad I had the opportunity to go and see the ship he was on.”
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 5206 named their post after Rhodes and another sailor, Paul Hedrick, who also died on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Hedrick grew up in Catawba County and lived in California. He was the son of the late O.H. Hedrick, who was living in Henderson County during the war.
Don Rhodes followed his cousin’s example and joined the Navy in 1948. He served more than 20 years, retiring in 1969 as a chief petty officer. He later served as a commander of VFW Post 5206.
On Dec. 7, 1991, the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a memorial plaque was placed in the cemetery at Barnwell Baptist Church off Bearwallow Mountain Road in memory of Mark Rhodes. The Rhodes family attended the church and many family members are buried at the cemetery, Ritchie said.