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Like Dunice Hargrave, Qm3 Preston Harrington, a member of the US Navy, was serving
on board the USS Houston on March 1, 1942, when it was sunk during an enemy
engagement with the Japanese off the coast of Java.
Preston was declared missing in action. It was not until the end of the
war in 1945 that he and the others whose bodies were never found were declared
killed in action on the day of the battle.
Preston was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edmar Harrington of Abbeville. We were
unable to find any of Preston's relatives until C. Paul Bergeron, hearing of our
search, informed us that Preston's younger brother Hubert Harrington had married
Paul's wife's cousin Hilda, and he believed them to be living in Texas.
Using that information, Gary Theall's talented legal assistant Phyllis Dartez
was able in a matter of minutes to locate Hilda Harrington in Odessa, Texas, who
informed us that her husband had died in 2001, but confirmed that he was the
brother of Preston Harrington, and that she had a picture of Preston. She
kindly let her daughter Della Wallender email us the copy that you see above.
Next: Earl B. Lattier