A county supervisor's son went to war and ended his life as a prisoner of war.

Arthur W. Pinkham was born on January 27, 1919, in San Francisco, California, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Pinkham. The Pinkhams subsequently moved to Davenport in Santa Cruz County where Arthur attended grammar school. Pinkham entered Santa Cruz High School about 1933 and took courses in trade, industry and carpentry. He left high school on December 2, 1935, to seek employment.

On October 2, 1938, Arthur Pinkham joined the US Navy and following boot camp at San Diego and training in his specialty field, he was sent to Pearl Harbor in July 1939. When he arrived in Hawaii, he reported aboard the USS Hull that later departed for the Philippine Islands. In December 1941 Pinkham was serving aboard the USS Perry.

During the Japanese, invasion Seaman First Class Pinkham was wounded and taken to the island of Corregidor where the Japanese captured him on May 6, 1942. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkham received word from the Red Cross that their son Arthur had died from peritonitis on June 11, 1943, while serving as a prisoner of war. His remains were never recovered, but he was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery.
(Note: the ABMC's, 26 August 1942 record of his death cannot be explained.)

(ABMC; SCHSC Pg. 17; SCSn June 19, 1943; DANFS, USS Perry DD-340)