The USS Arizona Memorial
Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii
On that fateful Sunday morning, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, the largest United States Naval installation of the day. The battleship Arizona was hit fifteen minutes after the initial attack began and sank ten minutes later. In all, 1,117 of its crew were killed, 1,102 of whom are still entombed inside the ship. The Memorial serves a dual role, not only does it "Remember Pearl Harbor," but it also functions as a final resting place for the crew. After the Japanese attack, the location had functioned as a pilgrimage site for those who strove to remember, commemorate, and learn. However, no formal opportunity for family, friends, and the general public to commemorate the fallen service people at Pearl Harbor existed. In the summer of 1959, the Pacific War Memorial Commission (PWMC) awarded Alfred Preis the commission to design the memorial. Preis designed the catenary span over the sunken ship which stands today. The roof of the white structure, which is situated perpendicularly above the Arizona, is peaked on either end and bows in the center. Construction began immediately following Congress's appropriation of $150,000. The Memorial's site above the clear waters of Pearl Harbor and the Arizona, allows each visitor to gaze below the surface and view the watery grave which still holds over a thousand of her crew. To learn more about the USS Arizona Memorial, access the following hotlinks for the commission and the cultural geography, or access the National Park Service's USS Arizona Memorial.
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USS Arizona Memorial |
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GTM 5/98