S1c Irven Edgar Thompson

Irven Edgar Thompson was nine when his father died of appendicitis, leaving his mother with five children.

Mr. Thompson was born Nov. 27, 1921 in Toledo, Ohio to Ralph Thompson, a barber, and Mabel Perry Thompson, a homemaker.

He attended North Baltimore High School 30 miles south of Toledo but quit in March 1940 — his senior year — to join the Navy. He 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.

He was a member of the battleship’s swim team, which won its division championship in 1940.

His mother also died tragically, in 1946. She was working as a housekeeper for a North Baltimore family when a can of kerosene used to light a stove exploded and showered her in flaming oil.

Sources: The Republican Courier of Findlay, Ohio; North Baltimore High School yearbook; At ‘Em Arizona newspaper; Census; Navy muster roll; Ohio death certificate. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.