USS Arizona Memorial, Hawaii

Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 . . . a peaceful morning was ruined when a surprise Japanese air strike bombarded the Pacific Fleet. Of the 2,390 lives lost that day, over half of them were from the battleship Arizona. This memorial serves as a reminder of the tragic event, and the determination of our countrymen to fight for their democratic ideals. The next four years would be a fierce battle ranging from Europe to the islands of the Pacific.

The USS Arizona Memorial is visited by people from around the world each year. They visit the 184 foot-long structure spanning the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. The entry and assembly rooms, the central area where ceremonies are held as well as general observations, and the shrine room where the names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved on the marble wall, are all reminders of what occurred here.

Although there were many suggestions for a memorial to be built signifying what happened during the Pearl Harbor attack, it wasn’t until 1949 that the Territory of Hawaii established the Pacific War Memorial Commission. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the creation of a memorial in 1958 and its construction was completed in 1961. The USS Arizona Memorial was officially dedicated in 1962.

For more information on this Memorial, please visit the resource section.

Source: National Park Service, Department of the Interior