America’s Monuments: USS Arizona Memorial

Every year on November 11th, the United States celebrates Veterans Day to honor individuals that have served in the military. Currently there are close to 20 million veterans in the U.S. Of course no one can forget what occurred in Pearl Harbor, particularly our Veterans.

On December 7th, 1941, The USS Arizona was attacked by the Japanese in Pearl Harbor, beginning World War II. The ship burned for two days in the harbor before finally sinking, making it the final resting place of 1,102 sailors out of the 1,177 that were killed. In 1962, the site was dedicated as a memorial to commemorate the sailors that were lost.

Construction to begin building the ship was authorized by Congress on March 4th, 1913. The vessel was named Arizona for the 48th state, which was added to the union on Valentine’s Day of 1912, and the keel was laid on March 16th, 1914 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Sponsored by the daughter of W. W. Ross, Esther Ross, the Arizona was launched on June 19th, 1915. On October 17th, 1916, she was commissioned in her builder’s yard with Captain John D. McDonald at her helm.

The United States Navy enlisted Alfred Preis, a Honolulu architect, to design the USS Arizona Memorial. The specified that it be in some form of a bridge that would float above the wreckage of the Arizona, and that it must accommodate at least 200 people. The 184-foot national memorial has two peaks at either end and comes together in the middle in a sort of ‘sagging’ shape. The design was initially called a “squashed milk carton” by critics. Preis explained his design as, “Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory.”

At the end of World War II, the wrecked superstructure was removed, and efforts to erect a memorial began. In 1949, the Pacific War Memorial Commission, or PWMC, was made to build a permanent site in Hawaii. A temporary memorial site was erected above the ship’s deckhouse. In 1951 and 1952, Admiral Arthur Radord requested funds to build the memorial, but the requests were denied due to budget constraints during the Korean War. During the entirety of the 1950s, there were discussions of doing away with the Arizona altogether. But, in 1958, President Eisenhower approved the creation. The USS Arizona Memorial was built in 1961, and was officially dedicated on May 30th, 1962.

The Arizona Memorial is only accessible by boat, and can hold 200 visitors at a time. Over 1 million people visit it annually. The main parts of the memorial are the entry, shrine, and assembly room. In the central assembly room, there are seven big, open windows on the walls and ceiling, meant to stand for the date the attack on the ship occurred. There is also an opening in the floor of the memorial that looks down on the sunken decks of the ship. Here, visitors come to pay there respects and, in honor of the sailors that lost their lives, toss flowers into the water.

The USS Arizona Memorial is located in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. You can visit the memorial Monday through Sunday between 7 am and 5 pm. To visit, it is free of charge, and you are shown a movie on the history, and given access to the museums and the actual memorial site itself.

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