Life Along the Streetcar with Tom Heath from The Heath Team Nova Home Loans

With today being Memorial Day, we wanted to share our 2018 interview with David Carter, the designer of the USS Arizona Mall Memorial on the University of Arizona campus, and it’s going to include some parts we’ve not previously aired.

Today is May 29th, my name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to “Life Along the Streetcar”.

Each and every Sunday our focus is on Social, Cultural and Economic impacts in Tucson’s Urban Core and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about.

From A Mountain to the U of A and all stops in between. You get the inside track- right here on 99.1 FM, streaming on DowntownRadio.org- we’re also available on your iPhone or Android using our very own Downtown Radio app.  Reach us by email [email protected] — interact with us on Facebook at LifeAlongTheStreetcar and follow us on Twitter @StreetcarLife

Our intro music is by Ryanhood and we exit with music from Sharon Jones, “This Land Is Your Land.”

Transcript

Good morning. It’s a beautiful Sunday in the old Pueblo and you are listening to Ktdt Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson community sponsored rock and roll radio station. With tomorrow being Memorial Day, we wanted to share our 2018 interview with David Carter, the designer of the USS Arizona Mall Memorial on the University of Arizona campus, and it’s going to include some parts we’ve not previously aired. Today is May 29, 2022. My name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to Life Along the Streetcar. Each and every Sunday are focused on social, cultural and economic impacts in Tucson’s urban core, and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about. From a mountain to you, Arizona, and all stops in between. You get the inside track right here on 99 One FM [email protected] available on your iPhone or Android with our Downtown Radio Tucson app. And of course, you can always get us here directly on the show by emailing

us, [email protected] head over to social media, Facebook and Instagram, and our website is Lifelongthestreetcar.org, where you can find our past episodes and include information about our new book we just released. And one of the stories in that book from our first year of interviews was about the USS Arizona Mall Memorial, which sits on the mall right in front of the student Union on the University of Arizona campus. And with tomorrow being Memorial Day, we thought we would revisit that interview with David Carter, and we actually included some elements that we didn’t have time for in the first show. So this is a little bit more of an extended version with David Carter, designer of the USS Arizona Mall Memorial. I’m David Carter. I was the creator and project designer for the USS Arizona Mall Memorial. We’ve thus far accomplished two of our three objectives with this attempt to have a mainland tribute to the 1177 sailors and Marines who were killed on the USS Arizona at

Pearl Harbor.

We have on the mall now since December 2016, a full scale outline of the deck of the ship. It covers 1.3 acres, almost 600ft long, almost 100ft wide. It’s a little bit difficult to try to grasp the extent of it from any given position. You almost have to sort of walk that outline to get a sense of it. I had 15 seconds of Fame day before the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor on the Cvseb news when I was explaining that in the original layout of the outline of the deck, we began at the curb in front of Old Maine. When we got down to there’s a concrete retaining wall in front of the desert garden. We had five eight of an inch to spare. We ended up slightly tweaking that alignment, but that was an example of something. Are you saying, confidential, it was meant to be in this location, on this spot. The outline of the ship explains something of the scale of the ship. But within this Plaza, 39ft wide, some 90ft across, are three inch brass medallions to each of the men who were killed on the ship.

And that is the second step that’s conveying the human scale of the loss. And we’re trying here to have something of an entree to younger people. So on each of these medallions we have the year born and the year died. One fellow survived into 1 February 1942, a day away from getting care in San Francisco before he died. All the others died in 1941, most of them on December the 7th, during the attack, when a Japanese Bong blew up the forward magazines, literally lifted the forward portion of the ship out of the water and instantly killing most of those 1177 sailors and Marines. The third aspect that we hope we can have in place before too much longer is something that has a WiFi aspect, where someone with a phone or ability to plug into WiFi on the mall here will be able to call up any given name. And where we have photos see on a phone a photo of that guy and read about him and his family. In the case of 26 families, when the word came, it was not that one son had been killed, but the two

had died on the ship. So there are 26 pairs of medallions that have italic notations at the top saying Brother of and the initials of the other brother, and then the corresponding inscription for the other brother. There’s also a similar inscription for a father and son who were killed on the ship. What research by my wife has made very clear. She now has compiled going on 400 profiles of the men killed on the ship and are still working away on that. I hope to shortly be retired and be assisting her in completing that work. But what she has found is that it wasn’t just brothers and a father and son. There were dozens and dozens of cousins on the ship. There were uncles and nephews. There were scores of guys who were best friends, typically growing up in small towns. And then there was one man who grew up outside of Waterloo Island, William Ball. Bill Ball five brothers who grew up with him played ball with him. When they heard of his death on the Arizona, they went down to enlist, and they

insisted that they all be allowed to serve together. In November 1942, they were on the light cruiser USS Juneau, which it’s a large ship, but it took two Japanese torpedoes for the five brothers were killed almost immediately. The fifth brother survived for over a day before. He also succumbed before the Navy was able to rescue those who were still alive. So those were the five Sullivan brothers. It was a famous World War II movie made about them, about their experience. There was a destroyer named after them that is today tied up outside Buffalo, New York. So it was an Arizona connection to the worst of the incidents, where brothers and relatives were perished. You talked about age, mathematic, Mattox, the typical age of one of the names on these medallions. How old were these men? There was one guy from Tucson. He was still 17 when he died. One quarter of the men who were killed were still teenagers when they died. Five of them were still 16 years old when they die because they had enlisted

illegally wandering the late 1930s in much of the country was still the aftermath of the Great Depression. There were a huge number of men on the ship who were orphans. Their economic prospects were minimal. It seems then that the average age is somewhere in that 19 to 22, 23 range. That’s right. Which is exactly the average age of the student walking across this campus every day. Right. So we hope that we can have a number of different aspects to a third phase of this, where if you’re here at the University from St, Michigan, you want to see the men from your state, you can do that in sequence. Or if you want to see the men who are the same age as you are now, you could also do that. Our hope is that we can have perhaps six different positions around the outline of the ship, where from that position, you can be able to see on a phone or a laptop a view of the ship from that position. What it looks like I just got goosebumps. That would be phenomenal. Just walking the outline of this is

so inspiring. But just to get that view would be amazing. We’ll be back to the second half of our interview with David Carter from 2018, talking about the USS Arizona Mall Memorial on the University of Arizona campus. And we’re going to find out why it’s there and in 2018, what the future might hold. But first, I want to remind you that you’re listening to life along the streetcar. Downtown radio, 99.1 FM and available for streaming on Downtownradio.org. Greetings and salutations Downtown radio listeners. Paleo Dave, your unfrozen caveman DJ, here to spread the good word about the Scrambled Sunrise rock mix happening every weekday morning from seven to 09:00 a.m. Right here on Downtown radio from the earliest days of psych punk and new wave to 80s College rock, 90s, alternative and the ongoing wave of 21st century indie rock. It’s all right here on the Scrambled Sunrise. So tune in via 99.1 FM if you’re in the greater downtown area or streaming worldwide via Downtownradio.org. And we are

back, we’re going to finish up that 2018 interview we did with David Carter about the USS Arizona Mall Memorial and to talk about why it’s in its location, some things that in 2018, the future may have held for us. And there’s actually some pieces in here that are not part of the original interview, so you’re getting some fresh content as well. This isn’t something that just happens. What drew you to this project in the beginning? Why did you think this was important and how did it end up on the U of a mall? Well, I was a U of A student in the late 60s, early seventy s, and was a journalism major. I wrote one article for the Wildcat but was often dropping and visiting friends who worked on the Wildcat. It was on the second floor of the Student Union and across the hallway was a small Museum with memorabilia from the USS Arizona. Years later, that first student Union, which had the Bell in a tower with grill work in front of it where you couldn’t see the Bell, and the small Museum up on

the second floor, where most people had no idea it existed. The replacement student Union was built circa 2000, and you can now see the Bell. It’s visible in the new tower and directly around the corner from the tower on the first floor, in a highly visible area, is the small Museum, and a beautiful aspect of it is that it incorporates brass windows and doors from the first Student Union, so it’s a very nautical aspect to the Museum. I was talking in 2012, Mark Kelly came to Centennial Hall to provide a community update on the rehab of his wife, Gabby Giffords. Remember aftermath of January 8 shootings here? There was a small gathering backstage beforehand, and I was talking with Frank Furias, who for decades was the head of the bookstore. I knew that he had been part of the planning on the new Student Union and was congratulating. I had been by recently and had seen the new tower, the student Union and small Museum, and I was congratulating him on that. We were talking about it when in

my mind’s eye I could visualize the nearly six foot long, 100 scale model of the ship, which is in the Museum here. It’s the ship as it was in 1935. It’s an excellent model, but from having visited

World War II destroyers similar to the one that my father served on, I knew that a model doesn’t begin to convey scale. It’s hard for anyone to translate the scale of the model, even if it’s a round number like one to 100

the size. So I said to Frank, it would be great if we could outline the ship out on the mall to convey that scale. And a fraction of a second later I said, and if we could include the names of each of the men who perished on that day on the ship, that would convey the human scale. So that was one of steps one, steps two, and then gradually evolved the idea of trying to further expand what’s out here with the help of WiFi. If we can have people be able to come out and see photos of, for example, three of the men, including a guy who at the time was 15 when they were at boot camp. That really is so powerful to see an image like that. And I would imagine for the families we were just talking earlier before the interview of someone whose husband was the nephew of someone that was on the Arizona. And then hearing about this was something that being today, December 7, that they wanted to come out and be a part of that. And this has been open for two years now. This has been open and talked about

for some time. So there’s still families just learning about this and the research that you and your wife are doing 400 stories. I would imagine that’s just opening up a whole nother realm of historical perspective on this event.

It’s something that Bobby Joe is taking the lead and trying to convey the personal aspects and the stories. The fact that

last summer she was able to get hold of a fellow in Hillview, a small community about 70 miles north of St. Louis in corn country and in Illinois, and he thought he could get a hold of a woman at county or Regional historical Society. He did have her call back. And Bobby Joe had known that there were two men from Hillsborough that died on the Arizona. The woman talked with her for about half an hour, explaining everything that she had been able to gather about these two men. And Bobby Joe was very appreciative, but she was thinking that, well, this is great, I need to get to work on it. And she began to thank the woman for her help when the woman said, well, are you not interested in the other two men? My wife did not know that there were four men from Hillview, which in 1940 had a population of 540. That two of them went on the ship initially. The two others followed successively, and all four were killed. They were not related. They were within three years of each other in the local small

high school. But even though not related for a small town like that, every single person likely knew that. And the impact of that. We set out everything here in alphabetical order, irrespective of rank. The Tucson Seaman second class, brand new to the Arizona, immediately proceeds in alphabetical order. His medallion immediately proceeds that of Captain Franklin Van Volkenburg, the skipper of the ship. How are you figuring out what stories to investigate and what names to do first? It’s a bit of a mix. Some of it has been something that’s readily available and where it’s known or there’s a connection or someone calls Ann or emails and there’s a connection, but also partly it’s trying to systematically work through.

Early in 2019, the National Park Service at Pearl Harbor is expecting to finally post the high res scans that have been made of personnel records called bricks. They were in cardboard, rectangular containers in the executive officers quarters on the ship. They’re all synchronized from the fires that rage for in the case of the Arizona, for three days before anyone could get on the ship. We’re hoping that the information in each of those bricks will be a real leg up on trying to compile the remaining profiles. I remember when this inaugural event in 2016, you had survivors of the USS Arizona. Are they still all living? Are they passed they’re today five remaining survivors. And of those five, amazingly, two were up on the range Finder platform

in the Port platform. They were partly sheltered by the 36 inch diameter of the foremast of the ship on which the Bell that’s here today was hung when the forward magazines exploded a bit to the starburter right side of the number two turret. That blast killed all the men who were in the starboard fire control

unit, the ones on the Port side, because of the forecast and being a little bit further away, were able to get out. A line was passed to them from the vessel, the repair ship tied up next to the Arizona, and a semen there disregarded an officer’s orders to sever the line so the Vestel could try to get out into the harbor. So there were I think it was eight or nine men from that fire control director, a steel box that were able hand over hand to get off. Both Lauren Bruner, one of the survivors today, and Don Stratton, they were in hospital for nine months before returning to service throughout the war. But both of them in succeeding years have had operation after operation for skin grafts because of the Burns that they received. Bruner came out here in 2016, in September when the University played Hawaii at the football Stadium here, and Brunner was introduced at halftime beforehand that day, he had filled the questions for about 45 minutes from Navy and Marine ROTC students. One of those

students, pretty sharp guy, managed to email him. A couple of months later, he knew that Bruner lives outside Los Angeles. He said that I’ll be graduating in June. I’ll receive my Commission as Ninson. Would you be willing to come over and give me my first salute? And Bruner, who is at the time, was 94 95, said, absolutely. So we hope to get posted on a website, a video of that first solution. Wonderful. This is an amazing undertaking. Step one of the physical scale and step two of the human scale is quite amazing. And I’m excited about step three of this historical perspective that’s coming with technology, time and energy. There’s so much to look forward to. Thank you for your time. Thank you for doing this. And thank Bobby Joe for us. Thank you. That was David Carter. And that interview first aired in 2018, and it’s one of our feature stories. And the book we just wrote called My Life Along the Streetcar, talking about the USS Arizona Mall Memorial and its placement on the University

of Arizona campus. Quite an inspiring site to see and I hope if you have a chance to get out there you take a look at the Memorial and maybe walk the deck of the USS Arizona. Well, my name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to Life Along the Streetcar in Downtown Radio 99.1 FM and available for streaming on Downtownradio.org Gone merch show your love for downtown radio with sweet new items from our merch store, from our classic Antenna logo on stickers and totes to a brand new design featured on phone cases, Fanny packs, mugs and masks in a variety of colors. We know you’ll find something you like. Proceeds support daily operations of the all volunteer downtown radio so we can continue to broadcast underground music that Rocks plus $1 from the sale of Every Mask will go to a non profit providing meals to kids who normally rely on school lunch courtesy of Teespring. Just head over to Downtownradio.org, click the Merch link and get your swag on. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode of the USS

Arizona Mall Memorial with an interview we did back in 2018. It was the designer David Carter. Tomorrow being Memorial Day, we thought it was an appropriate topic for today’s show and would also like to leave you with some appropriate music to finish up our day before Memorial Day show. This is with Sharon Jones and Adapt Kings. It’s a rendition of this Land Is Your Land from a 2005 album they did called Naturally. I hope tomorrow is not just filled with barbecue but also some reflections and thankfulness for those that have served in our armed forces and who did not make it home. My name is Tom Heath. I hope you have a great week and tune in next Sunday for more life along the streetcar.

Now I don’t belong to

was made for you and me

as I was walking.

This page provided by The Mortgage Guidance Group at Nova Home Loans®

Tom Heath - Senior Loan Officer with Nova Home Loans
X