Joseph H. Arbour Jr. was born in July 1924 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at Lady of the Lake Hospital. Growing up with divorced parents, Arbour would go back and forth to his father's house in the city and his mother's house on the outskirts of town. He attended Catholic High for a short period of time, until his father's family wanted to rebuild their house on St. Louis Street, so they sent him to Saint Stanislaus [Annotator's Note: a Catholic boarding school in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi] and he graduated there four years later in 1942. On 1 June 1942, the day after his graduation, he went and stood outside the gates at the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana for a job. He got a job that day. Instead of waiting to be drafted into the Army, he enlisted in the Navy because he did not like the idea of wading through mud. He was technically underweight for the Navy's standards of admission, but they accepted him anyway.

Joseph Arbour was sent to San Diego, California for six weeks for basic training. He tested well on his general classification exam and was assigned to fire control training. He did another 16 weeks of training in San Diego where he learned skills in machinery tools, electricity and mathematics. After he received his certificate, he was given nine days to report to North Island [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station North Island, then known as Naval Air Station San Diego], San Diego, California, so he decided to take a train back to Louisiana to visit his family for a couple of days. During this time he had a serious case of Athlete's foot that would not heal, and when he reported to North Island nine days later, he was sent to a hospital on Treasure Island [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Treasure Island], San Francisco, California for treatment. While in treatment, unbeknownst to Arbour, the Navy assigned him to the USS Portland (CA-33) which was docked at Mare Island [Annotator's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard], San Francisco, California.

In the meantime, Joseph Arbour saw a wanted ad for someone to work with a mimeograph, so he applied for the position. The job sent him to Goat Island [Annotator's Note: Yerba Beuna Island], San Francisco, California. He would take the streetcar into downtown San Francisco almost every night to hang out at diners, USO [Annotator’s note: United Service Organization] shows, and parties. After a few weeks of working, he finally received notice that he was assigned to the USS Portland (CA-33). He left San Francisco and through the USO was placed with a family in Seward Park, Seattle, Washington where he celebrated his 19th birthday.

Joseph Arbour went on an outfit ship with 20 other boys to meet up the USS Portland (CA-33). It took 13 days to finally reach the ship in Adak, Alaska, and he boarded the Portland in the middle of night. During his time on the ship, he was given several duties. He was first assigned to the Rangefinder on the first turret [Annotator's Note: Turret Number 1]. He didn't care for fire control duties and he had a difficult time working with one of the seaman. He was eventually transferred out of fire control duties and helped the photographer on board, Al Friedman, and in addition was selected for lookout duty and "deck ape" [Annotator's Note: naval slang term for the sailors who maintain the ship and its spaces]. Arbour observed the anti-Semetic feelings the commander had towards Al Friedman.

Joseph Arbour recalls when the USS Portland (CA-33) provided shelling during the Battle of Tawara. He also remembers during the Peleliu invasion several wounded Marines came aboard their ship. During the invasion, a Kamikaze plane threatened the Portland, but they were able to shoot the plane down before it was able to crash into them. Arbour was on leave in Pensacola, Florida when the Japanese surrendered and World War 2 ended.