The USS Arizona Men

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, shortly before 8 a.m. the men on board the USS Arizona were preparing for Sunday morning services, planning shore leave, writing letters home and visiting with shipmates. Little did they know that the day's events would forever change their lives.

As the Japanese attacked, this quiet morning turned into a nightmare many would carry with them the rest of their lives. Many more would not survive the devastating attack.

"General Quarters" was sounded and the men scrambled for their battle stations. Within minutes, the men were firing back at the swarm of Japanese planes. Facing, fires, black smoke, explosions and the continual strafing from the Japanese planes, these men remained at their respective battle stations. Many died instantly when a bomb went through the after deck and landed in the black powder room igniting a huge explosion and an immense fire ball that traveled throughout the ship.

Faced with badly burned men wandering about on deck, those men that survived the initial explosion, heroically helped evacuate the wounded all the while dodging the bullets from the attacking planes and the fires roaring about them.

By this time, the fuel oil from the ship's tanks had escaped and covered the water around the ship. This oil promptly caught fire making "abandon ship" into a treacherous deed. Many of those that jumped were caught up in the fires and fuel oil. This made it impossible to swim to safety.

This book is a memorial to the men that were serving on the USS Arizona that fateful morning. Who were these men and what did they experience. This is their story.

T.J. Cooper was born in 1951 in South Dakota while her father was serving in the Korean War. She grew up listening to her father talk about World War II and the Korean War. He served in both. Later she watched as her brother and classmates went off to fight in the Vietnam War. She attended the College of St. Catherine's. T.J. served as the President/CEO of Dashound Express, Inc. for 14 years. She is married with one daughter and two grandsons. A genealogy researcher for over 30 years, and avid World War II History Buff, she was frustrated by the lack of military records on the men that served their country so valiantly. She began researching and compiling individual military records and founded the website, MyVeteranFamily.com, a searchable database of compiled individual military records. The Author, T.J. Cooper has spent the last 10 years researching this book. Her family has served this country in every war from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War.