Norman Kenneth Iversen was born Dec. 4, 1923. Graves School in Salinas, California, celebrated the end of school in June 1936 with a Flag Day program.

Earl Iversen, Norman’s older brother and one of three eighth-grade graduates, read his essay, “The Story of the Flag.”  Norman recited a poem, “To Thee O Country.”

Earl moved on to Salinas Union High School, but left in 1937 after completing 9th grade. When the Census was conducted in May 1940, he was identified as a farmer on a ranch, as was his father, Iver. Earl reported working 52 weeks in 1939 and earning $420. Norman was still a student in the spring of 1940 but he soon quit school after completing 10th grade.

The brothers left the Monterey Peninsula for good on Jan. 30, 1941, when they enlisted in the Navy. They were seamen second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when they were killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Nearly 20 years after their deaths, their mother, Erma, a homemaker, had cenotaphs erected at Golden Gate National Cemetery at San Bruno. 

Earl Henry Iversen was born April 21, 1920.  They lived at Point Arena and later at Salinas.

Norman’s age would have put him in high school at the same time as Erminio Joseph Brignole, who also died on the Arizona. Brignole enlisted in June 1941, right after graduation from Salinas Union. The school was small enough – with just over 300 graduates a year – that Brignole and Norman Iversen likely knew each other.

Sources: the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, California; the Healdsburg (California) Tribune, Enterprise & Scimitar; the Mendocino (California) Beacon; the San Francisco Examiner; the Californian and Morning Post of Salinas, California; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; cenotaphs. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.