Joseph Bernard O’Brien was born April 16, 1921 in Joliet, Illinois. His mother, Effie Wise O’Brien, was a homemaker and his father, Patrick H. O’Brien, a teamster.

Joseph’s father died in 1925.

By the time of the 1930 Census his mother was the head of a household of three children ages eight to 25 plus a daughter-in-law. She was a saleslady at a retail store, while her oldest son, William, and his wife worked at a telephone company and a brass foundry, respectively, in Chicago.

They were all still together in the spring of 1940, though by then William was identified as head of the household, which also included a niece. Joseph had completed three years of high school and was still enrolled.

He enlisted in the Marines on July 17, 1940.

Mr. O’Brien was a gunnery private first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Sources: Census; Marine enlistment records and muster roll; U.S. Veterans Administration; Cook County, Illinois birth and death index; U.S. Veterans Administration. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.