James J. Murphy, Bisbee’s First Casualty in World War II
Thanks to Mike Anderson to whom we owe this article.
Many of the people who lived and worked in Bisbee during its early years were immigrants. During the second decade of the 20th century, when the city’s population was at its peak, approximately 40 percent of its population were from Mexico, Canada, Australia, and from every nation in Europe. Of that group, about half were English-speaking immigrants, coming from the United Kingdom or Canada.
The migration from the United Kingdom to Bisbee had started during the city’s earliest days when Cornish “Cousin Jack” hard rock miners from southwest England came in the 1880s to dig the rich copper ore out of the Mule Mountains. By the turn of the 19th Century, most of the English-speaking immigrants were coming to Bisbee from Cumberland, located adjacent to the Irish Sea in northwest England. Typically, one family member would immigrate, and once established, would write to his relatives, informing them of the opportunities for making a new start and inviting them to join him. One of those families would end up making a terrible sacrifice during America’s first moments as a belligerent in the Second World War.
James Joseph Murphy was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England on August 18, 1920, the son of Richard Murphy and Mary Jackson Murphy. He was the fraternal twin of his sister Marie. The Murphys came to the U.S. aboard the steamship S.S. Leviathan on Nov. 3, 1923, and made their way to Bisbee where Richard found work as a watchman with the Copper Queen Branch of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Corporation. Richard’s brother, Patrick Joseph Murphy, also came to America on the Leviathan on Nov. 3, 1923. Both Richard and Patrick listed their occupations as miners.
Although Richard and Mary Murphy and their children were born in England, they were Irish in culture and devout Roman Catholics by faith.
James and his family lived in Old Bisbee on Quality Hill at 303 Oak Ave. He and his sister attended the nearby Loreto Catholic School, located next to St. Patrick’s Church where the family worshipped. An indifferent student, James dropped out of Loreto after his first year of high school and found work as a boilermaker’s helper for Phelps-Dodge. James, his parents, and his twin sister Marie became naturalized U.S. citizens in 1936.
In Jan. 1941 a Navy recruiter visited Bisbee to sign up men to serve on the state’s namesake battleship. James joined the Navy on Jan. 31, 1941. On April 27, 1941, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39), a Pennsylvania-class battleship assigned to the U.S. Pacific Fleet and based at Pearl Harbor, on the island of O’ahu in the Territory of Hawaii. Family members say that James was originally assigned to the aircraft carrier U. S. S. Enterprise (CV-6), but requested a transfer to battleships because he believed it would increase his chances of making a port call in England, where he could visit relatives.
James had been promoted to Seaman 1st Class and was on board the Arizona on December 7, 1941, when air units of the imperial Japanese navy flying off six aircraft carriers attacked American air and naval installations on O’ahu. The Arizona, with six of the other eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet then stationed in Hawaii, was moored at “Battleship Row” alongside Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The repair ship U.S.S. Vestal was moored alongside her, shielding her from torpedo attacks.
The surprise Japanese attack began at 7:55 a.m. Japanese horizontal bombers and dive bombers attacked the battleships, capsizing the Oklahoma and sinking the California and West Virginia. Also damaged were the Nevada, Maryland, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock at the time of the attack. A number of other warships in the harbor were also sunk or damaged.
The American sailors aboard the ships were surprised and stunned by the sudden and violent attack but ran to their battle stations and quickly returned fire with their antiaircraft guns. During the first 15 minutes of the air raid, the Arizona suffered several bomb hits but continued firing back at the attacking aircraft.
At approximately 8:10 a.m., an 800-kilogram armor-piercing bomb dropped from a Japanese Nakajima B5N (codenamed “Kate” by the Americans) bomber struck the forward section of the Arizona near Turret 2. The bomb penetrated the deck armor and continued into the bowels of the ship before exploding. Seconds later, a massive and catastrophic explosion, fueled by the many thousands of pounds of high explosives propellant powder stored within the Arizona’s forward magazine for its main guns, ripped through the bow, breaking the ship in two and destroying most of the forward interior compartments.
A crushing shock wave and wall of flame shot upwards and outwards. Debris from the ship, which included bodies, body parts, coins, letters and other personal effects of the Arizona’s crewmen, flew through air, landing in the water, on nearby ships and Ford Island. The sailors manning antiaircraft guns and other battle stations on the main deck, boat deck and other exposed parts of the ship were killed instantaneously or horribly burned.
Of the Arizona’s crew of approximately 1500 sailors and marines, 1177 were killed instantly or would later die from their wounds. The 286 survivors, mostly located in the after-gun turrets and stern compartments, continued manning their battle stations but eventually abandoned the burning and sinking ship. The Arizona continued to smolder for days.
Among the missing was Seaman 1st Class James J. Murphy. On Dec. 20, 1941, his parents were notified by telegram that their son was missing and presumed dead. His body, like many of the crewmen of the Arizona, was never recovered or identified. He is believed to still be inside the hulk of Arizona along with the remains of some 900 other men.
On September 7, 1943, the Patrol Frigate U.S.S. Bisbee (PF-46) was launched at the Consolidated Steel Shipyard at Los Angeles, CA. Christening her that day was Mrs. Mary Murphy, mother of S1C James J. Murphy. The Bisbee, named after S1C Murphy’s home town, received two battle stars for her combat service during World War II and three more during the Korean War. She served in three navies – the U.S. Navy, the Soviet navy and the Colombian navy – before being scrapped in 1962.
VFW Post 836 in Bisbee was named in honor of James J. Murphy. His name, along with the names of the other 1176 sailors and marines on the Arizona who were killed as a result of the raid on Pearl Harbor, is inscribed on the marble wall of the U.S. S. Arizona Memorial which was erected over the remains of the sunken battleship resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor in 1962. Murphy’s name, along with all of the other 18,096 Americans known to be missing in action in World War II in the Pacific Theater, is inscribed at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Cemetery of the Pacific, located in Honolulu.
In late November 2016, the Bisbee Unified School District conferred an honorary high school diploma to James J. Murphy, in recognition of his service and sacrifice for his adopted country.
On Dec. 4, 2016, the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial was dedicated at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The memorial, located on the mall that bisects the campus, consists of a low wall built in the shape and dimensions of the battleship. Along the top of the wall, 1177 medallions bearing the names of the men killed on the Arizona were set in place. That day, three Bisbee residents represented S1C Murphy at the dedication.
James Murphy’s name (along with the names of the other 76 Bisbee men who died in World War II) is also inscribed on Bisbee’s World War II Memorial, which is located at the turnout next to the Lavender Pit on State Route 80.
Although he has been dead for almost eight decades, James J. Murphy’s sacrifice is remembered and honored in Hawaii, Tucson, and Bisbee.