Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor and the Fate of the Many Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona

by Walter R. Borneman

Overview

A deeply personal and never-before-told account of one of America's darkest days, from the bestselling author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War.

The surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 remains one of the most traumatic events in American history. America's battleship fleet was crippled, thousands of lives were lost, and the United States was propelled into a world war. Few realize that aboard the iconic, ill-fated USS Arizona were an incredible seventy-nine blood relatives. Tragically, in an era when family members serving together was an accepted, even encouraged, practice, sixty-three of the Arizona's 1,177 dead turned out to be brothers.

In Brothers Down, acclaimed historian Walter R. Borneman returns to that critical week of December, masterfully guiding us on an unforgettable journey of sacrifice and heroism, all told through the lives of these brothers and their fateful experience on the Arizona. Weaving in the heartbreaking stories of the parents, wives, and sweethearts who wrote to and worried about these men, Borneman draws from a treasure trove of unpublished source material to bring to vivid life the minor decisions that became a matter of life or death when the bombs began to fall. More than just an account of familial bonds and national heartbreak, what emerges promises to define a turning point in American military history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316438889
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Walter R. Borneman is the author of nine works of nonfiction, including MacArthur At War, The Admirals, Polk, and The French and Indian War. He holds both a master's degree in history and a law degree. He lives in Colorado.

Table of Contents

List of Maps xi

Cast of Characters xv

Author's Note xix

Prologue: Silvis, Illinois; Christmas Eve, 1941 xxiii

Part I "Time Is Getting Short So I'll Say "So Long…'"

1 At'em Arizona 3

2 "My Brother Joined Up…" 25

3 Unsettled Seas 33

4 Chasing Ghosts: Thursday, December 4 55

5 Weekend Dreaming: Friday, December 5 75

Part II "Got to Find My Brother…"

6 "By This Time Next Week…": Saturday, December 6 95

7 Luck of the Draw: Saturday, December 6 113

8 Dawn: Sunday, December 7 131

9 "Andy, Who Are Those Guys?": Sunday, December 7 153

10 "My Brother's Up There!": Sunday, December 7 173

11 "Abandon Ship!": Sunday, December 7 190

Part III "There's Never a Day Goes By…"

12 The Waiting: Sunday, December 7 209

13 "Yesterday, December 7…": Monday, December 8 231

14 "The Secretary of the Navy regrets…" 243

15 Those Left to Remember 260

Epilogue: Brothers All 276

Acknowledgments 279

Appendices 283

A Brothers Serving on USS Arizona, December 7, 1941 283

B US Battleships in Commission, 1941 288

C Comparative Ranks of Commissioned Officers in US Military Services 290

D World War II-era General Protocols for Naming US Navy Ships 291

E Command Organization, US Pacific Fleet, Battle Force, December 7, 1941 292

Notes 295

Bibliography 313

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

04/22/2019

This well-organized book is a poignant look at the brothers who were serving aboard the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. By using the fresh approach of focusing on the family connections among the crew, Borneman (MacArthur’s War) breathes new drama into the oft-explored story of the day that ushered the United States into WWII. He focuses on 14 of the 38 groups of brothers who were part of the Arizona’s crew, describing how they represented the Navy, the country, and the lower-middle-class families whose sons joined the service seeking a path out of the economic hopelessness of the Great Depression. The research behind this work is unique; Borneman draws on the brothers’ letters home and family lore from their relatives. The second part of the book follows the sailors into the attack on the Arizona. Most of the brothers—63 of the 79—perished in the disaster, as Borneman relays in detail. The final section follows the telegrams to the families, how they coped, and the subsequent lives of the survivors, wives, and girlfriends. The moving and unusual angle, excellent research, and the prose’s clarity and emotion make this one a winner. Agent: Alexander Hoyt, Alexander Hoyt Associates. (May)

Publishers Weekly

2019-03-03

A fresh account of a well-documented historical event, the Pearl Harbor attack, which "has never been told through the eyes of the many brothers serving together aboard the Arizona that fateful day."

As Borneman (MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific, 2016, etc.) recounts, there were 38 sets of brothers serving on the Arizona when it was attacked. The author's history of their lives and the events of that day alternates between impending doom and eternal hope for survivors. The narrative gets bogged down in the necessary but inevitably similar backgrounds of the soldiers, most of whom suffered during the Great Depression. They came from all over the country and entered the Navy at the lower ranks. Most were farm boys or children of merchants who joined up to help feed their families. They were luckier than most because the Navy was happy to assign brothers to the same ship, recognizing the positive impact on morale. Of the 2,403 killed in the Japanese attack, almost half were on the Arizona; it remains the single worst military ship disaster in American history. Borneman's extensive research turns up interesting details about the history of the battleship, including the massive amounts of fuel and gunpowder that contributed to the conflagration when the Japanese bombs hit. Ultimately, though, this is the soldiers' story, and the author tells it in moving, only occasionally excessive detail. Later, accusations rose that the Navy never should have had so many ships at Pearl Harbor, but the author notes that while there were more than 100 vessels there, there were more than 100 others out to sea, and not all those in port were lost.

The subject matter makes the book sometimes difficult to read—as it was no doubt difficult to write—but Borneman's broad knowledge and sensitive touch make it an entirely worthwhile experience.

Kirkus Reviews

"A memorable book, one more telling of that awful day, and the different ways it ravaged families."—Wall Street Journal

"This well-organized book is a poignant look at the brothers who were serving aboard the USS Arizona...The moving and unusual angle, excellent research, and the prose's clarity and emotion make this one a winner. "—Publishers Weekly

"A fresh account of a well-documented historical event...Borneman's extensive research turns up interesting details...Borneman's broad knowledge and sensitive touch make it an entirely worthwhile experience."—Kirkus Reviews

"Many other books have detailed the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But few of them have done so from the perspective of the sailors and Marines who were victimized that day, and none has used the unique point of view of the thirty-eight sets of brothers who were on board the ill-fated USS Arizona. By focusing on these eighty or so individuals from small towns and big cities, Borneman provides not only a unique frame of reference on the day of infamy, but a rich portrait of America in 1941."—Craig L. Symonds, author of World War II at Sea

"Walter Borneman is one of our finest historians, and in Brothers Down he has given us his most personal and affecting story-and one so immersive I often found myself holding my breath while reading his powerful account of the attack on the Arizona. It's that good."—James Donovan, author of Shoot for the Moon and A Terrible Glory

From the Publisher