JFK Recuperated at Castle Hot Springs

After his PT-109 was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in World War II, John Fitzgerald Kennedy fought back problems. During his recuperation, he spent about a year in Arizona and at Castle Hot Springs. It wasn’t JFK’s first trip to Arizona, nor would it be his last.

Remembering the USS Yavapai

Rare photo of the USS Yavapai

When naval history is written, it's the large capital ships that get all the attention. Yet aircraft carriers and battleships require a large amount of support ships--not just destroyers and submarines, but a myriad of logistical ships that require fuel, food, and fresh water.

The USS Yavapai was a ship that provided these necessities to the smaller ships; quietly "serving with distinction" in her logistical missions in Iwo Jima and Okinawa before going to Korea and China.

The Christening of the U.S.S. Arizona had Prescott Ties

It was the afternoon of June 19th, 1915, in New York.  Battleship 39, one of the greatest super-dreadnaughts the United States had ever built, was to be named after its three-year-old state, Arizona.

"Amid the shrieks of 10,000 whistles and the cheers of 40,000 American citizens, the great battleship Arizona slid" into the East River, the Journal-Miner reported.

Prescott's tie to the interesting story of the christening of the USS Arizona involved the choosing of her sponsor, Prescott belle Esther Ross, to christen her.