Ask any old-timer to name the singular event that changed Tucson like no other and all will give you a two-word answer: Pearl Harbor. Before Dec. 7, 1941, Tucson was a cowtown of fewer than 40,000 souls. Burros still grazed at what was then called Davis-Monthan Field. Following the Japanese attack that ushered in World War II for America, more than $3.5 million would be spent on improvements at D-M in 1942 alone. During World War II, close to 12,000 airmen would flow through the base, which became a major training field for bombing crews. One of those men was...