Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II podcast, Episode

251, an interview with Walter R. Barnerman about his latest book, Brothers Down, Pearl Harbor

and the fate of the many brothers aboard the USS Arizona.

Lauren and author Walter Barnerman has contributed mindfully to the story of World War II with his

previous books, MacArthur of War and The Admails, Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy and King, and now with

Brothers Down, Mr. Barnerman examines the tragedy of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of dozens of

brothers and other family members. Few know that there were 78 brothers as well as a father

and son on the USS Arizona. In an era where family members serving together was accepted, even

encouraged, 63 of Arizona's 1177 dead were brothers, a staggering 80% casualty right. So, Mr.

Barnerman, thank you very much for being with us today. Good to be with you, Ray. All right, so if

you don't mind, we'll just jump into it. I'm sure you're a busy man. So the first thing I wanted to

ask was what gave you the idea to tell what is essentially the story of Pearl Harbor from this unique angle?

Well, you know, as you mentioned, the other books that I've done, The Admails, sort of a big picture look in

America's four five-star admirals, of course, MacArthur, Big Picture, look at him and a dynamic

personality. But, you know, as I researched the admirals, I was only really at Pearl Harbor vaguely aware of

the sets of brothers who were on the Arizona. But after MacArthur, as I started to look around for another

topic, you know, you always try to think of something a little bit unique, a little bit different angle. And

every time I would mention to anybody, just kind of as an aside, wait, did you know, there were 38

sets of brothers on the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, everyone was amazed and astonished. 38 sets of

brothers, 78 men out of a crew of about 1500. How could that possibly be? And as I looked into the

little bit more, and of course, I'm not telling the story of all 38 sets that would be almost impossible narrative.

But as I looked into those family stories, it really became clearer that these men and a lot of them were

...