The Men of the USS Arizona (BB-39): Revised Edition

I bought this book even after reading the scathing review by another Amazon customer (boy, someone doesn't like this author!). It's definitely not perfect - there are mistakes. It needs a good proofreading. I've noticed at least one set of brothers' pictures are reversed (Don & Joe Lakin). There are details that are not correct about the men, but there are so many to remember...it's not easy putting something like this together. These mistakes SHOULD be brought to the author's attention (rather than blasting her in a review), and they SHOULD be corrected for future editions or printing. Is this happening? I don't know, and I'm not buying it again to find out. I'm a researcher, and I've got what I need. Researching primary documents isn't always easy, and there are mistakes in them (ever look at census records?) - researchers and genealogists have to play detective sometimes and figure it out. It's not always a smooth process and mistakes can be made. But this is a start. That makes this book important - there is nothing else like it out there. It's a place to start (not a setback because of some mistakes or punctuation errors) and a way to remember these young men who died too soon. Not perfect, but I'm happy to have it, so I can find out more about these men on my own terms, with my own research. I've also purchased her book on the Utah; I hope something similar is being done for the men of the Oklahoma. Being a history nerd, I'm reading it through, word-by-word - it's more of a reference book, not really meant to be read that way, but it's helping me get to know these men, one-by-one, and for that, I am thankful for the work Ms. Cooper has done.

My late father, Seaman 2nd Class Robert Sumners, survived the torpedo attack on the USS Utah on that December morning, and was an eyewitness to the massive explosions on the USS Arizona that claimed the lives of 1,177 crewmen, some of which were his high school classmates. On the following day, my father helped with efforts to recover the bodies of the dead sailors from the still smoldering wreckage. I had the pleasure of assisting TJ Cooper with the research on her previous excellent work, "The Men of the USS Utah", by sharing my father's story from that terrible day. I must say that I am very impressed with her latest work, "The Men of the USS Arizona"--it is very well written and well organized, a very fitting tribute to the men who lost their lives that day, as well as those who survived the hell that was the Pearl Harbor attack. I only wish that my father were still around to read both books--I know that he would be quite pleased. It is one thing to read about history painted with a broad brush; it is quite another to read the individual stories, many of them first-person, of those who actually lived through it. This was a difficult book to put together, and I think the author has done a wonderful job. The reproduction quality of the photographs is impressive, particularly when one considers that most of the photographs submitted were over 70 years old and highly variable in condition and quality. TJ Cooper has written yet another fine tribute to the men whose lives were changed forever by that faithful December day. Thank you so much for a wonderful book.

It is an excellent capture of "time" in lives that were taken too early. Obviously I have interest because my uncle was on the Arizona. He jointed the Navy at 19 and lost his life a year later on December 7, 1941. I will always feel a little anger not unlike others who were cheated out of knowing someone significant in their family. Times change but the human emotions involved will never change. I will always treasure this book that T. J. Cooper has shared with all who have an interest in this time in our countries history. I am in awe of the time that it took to collect all of the information on so many lives. As I travelled through the pages of time it was like being there; reading about other men's lives. And at times I needed a box of Kleenex as I paused to try to imagine how life might have been had that event in history hadn't happened. God Bless all of them; the "greatest generation."

The whole book looked like it was photo copied, some of the pages were folded over and not in the binding. I saw the first edition at Pearl Harbor and it had my uncle’s picture.This addition it was left out! Very disappointed!!

The little stories in this paperback book are great to have and I know a tremendous amount of work went into compiling it, but the printing is atrocious. Imagine writing your own text, pasting some old photos into the text, and then printing the book on your old home computer, using coarse text settings for text, photos and all. Some of the photos are almost unrecognizable and I don't remember any being sharp. My GUESS is that a digital file of the book was given to whomever and their labor staff is printing as ordered. In fact, I saw no publisher listed, but did see a print date which is the same as the day the book was shipped to me. This is not a nearly $30 book, in my opinion. They didn't even use the "good" print settings. The printer was obviously set for "speed". Very amateurish.

Love this book great stories and memorials !

I'm stunned to realize the amount of work that went into this book. It's not just a LIST of the men who died on the Arizona but in most cases there is an actual biography of him and sometimes even a photograph. I've seen "lists" before, even the marble monument above the Arizona in Pearl Harbor, but this information brought these sailors to life. It was emotional to read where they were from, if they were married, their parents' names . . . the people who got those dreaded telegrams. I hope we never forget and I'm grateful to T. J. Cooper for his effort.

I have donated a book about The uss Arizona to the library in town some years ago. The new one has a picture of my cousin Edward Smith who died on that ship. My daughter, Becky Terpening, sent a picture of him in uniform to the author and is credited for this. So I will buy anotherbook to give to the library in town. Jan Dickinson Scroggins.