Edward Gomez Jr. was born in Denver, Colorado on Feb. 7, 1921. His father, Edward Gomez, was a polisher at a wheelworks, and his mother, Josephine C

isneros Gomez, a homemaker and later a dishwasher at a bakery.

The family attended St. Louis Catholic Church in Englewood, Colorado. The 1940 Census said Edward Jr. was a high school graduate and doing deliveries for WW Byrd grocery. He had worked 52 weeks the previous year and earned $780.

His mother said he also served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era federal jobs program. The CCC, as it was known, employed single men 18 to 25 to plant trees, build roads and trails and make other improvements to public land, forests and parks. The men lived at camps across the country and were provided a bed and three meals a day. Of their $30 monthly pay, $25 was sent to their families. He served in Co. 832 at Laramie, Wyoming.

Mr. Gomez enlisted in the Navy on July 11, 1940, and was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Both of his brothers also served in the war and survived. Richard was in the Navy and Alfred in the Army. Alfred later served in the Air Force from 1947 to 1954.

Sources: Denver Catholic Register; Daily Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon; Navy muster roll; Census; grave markers; Department of Veterans Affairs death file; U.S. Defense Department. Note: On her marriage license, the mother’s name was listed as Cisnero. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.