S2c Raymond Edward Camden

Raymond Edward Camden was born Oct. 18, 1922 in Drumright, Oklahoman —  southwest of Tulsa. His father, Benjamin C. Camden, was an air brakeman for oil company tank cars and his mother, Bessie Bridgewater Camden, a homemaker.

She died in 1924, leaving her husband with four children younger than eight.

By the time of the spring 1940 Census son Raymond was still at home in Drumright with his father, step-mother, and two siblings. In his Navy enlistment application that fall he said he’d completed 9th grade at Lincoln School in Drumright.

He enlisted on Nov. 13, 1940, and went aboard the U.S.S. Arizona in January 1941 while the battleship was moored at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington. Mr. Camden was a seaman second class on the Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

His older brothers William and Thomas also served in the Navy during World War II.

Sources: Census; Navy enlistment records and muster rolls; grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.