Raymond Brown Oliver was born July 27, 1913 at Tooele, Utah southwest of Salt Lake City. His parents were Hazel Brown Oliver and Charles Oscar Oliver.

By 1920 the family lived at Palo Verde, California near the Colorado River and the Arizona border, and the father farmed in Riverside County. They were still there in 1930, when the Census said Raymond was no longer enrolled in school.

By April 1935 the Olivers lived in West Los Angeles, and in April 1940 Raymond worked for Robert E. McKee Construction in Glendale. When he applied to the Navy in February 1940 he said he’d completed 10th grade. He enlisted in the Navy that Oct. 29.

Mr. Oliver 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.

On Dec. 17 his mother wrote to the Navy asking if he was a casualty. She enclosed a self-addressed air mail envelope and signed off “a worried mother.” It wasn’t until about that date that the Navy started sending telegraphs to families of the Arizona dead, and those brief messages continued into February 1942.

Sources: the Citizen-News of Hollywood, California; Census; Navy enlistment records and muster roll; military registration card. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.