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BKR2c Sam Austin Benford
Sam Austin Benford was born Aug. 1, 1917, in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Esther B., was a homemaker and his father, Harry O., an office manager.
The family moved from Omaha to Minneapolis, Minnesota, before 1930. Sam, as he was known, graduated in 1936 from Central High. The school yearbook said “Born for success he seems, With grace to win, with heart to hold.”
He enlisted in the Navy on Feb. 2, 1938. Mr. Benford was a baker and petty officer second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
He was survived by his widow, Bonnie Cook Benford. They married in November 1940 while the Arizona was being repaired at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington. Mr. Benford never met their daughter, born in California in September 1941.