Hawaii Vacation - WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument

There have been quite a few changes to this site since my last visit 25 years ago. In 2010, the newly designated WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument was created. Congress combined 9 major historical sites into one umbrella park which includes multiple sites in Hawaii- including this one, Alaska's Aleutian Islands and one site in California.

Since my last visit the site itself has been "refurbished."  The visitor center was built on filled-in waterfront land. The engineers believed that the site would eventually settle to a maximum of 18 inches. Instead, it decided to settle as much as 30 inches. The visitor center was given a life expectancy of only 5-10 yrs in 2003. The site had to undergo major renovations or be entirely rebuilt.

So, in 2010 the completely rebuilt and expanded $58 million USS Arizona Memorial Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opened.The visitor center now rests on concrete friction piles driven more than 200 feet into the soft soil

The USS Arizona Memorial itself remains untouched by renovations. Oil leaks slowly from the ship as it was on my previous visit. I don't know if the correct word is ship or boat but in my post today I am using the word ship. Each day up to 4500 tickets are sold to visit the Memorial.

Access to the Memorial is by US Navy ship. They were really fussy about not stopping to take photos on the ramp leading from the Navy ship and the Memorial so I had to find a picture from the Internet.

Funds to originally build the Memorial came from public and private funding sources. And, though he declined to have any information about his contributions at the site itself, Elvis Presley held concerts and raised 10% of the funds needed to construct the Memorial. There were suggestions that a statue or plaque be placed at the site. Elvis said no. Elvis also had a huge connection to our very hotel. He always stayed there. He performed in the very spot where there is now a restaurant. We had dinner there one evening.

The trip to the Memorial is short but slow.

There are a few stories about the meaning of the design of the Memorial itself which floats above the submerged USS Arizona. [Note: The water is not that deep in the harbor so part of the ship did stick above the water level. In order to build the Memorial a few parts of the top of ship had to be removed.]

The stories: the Memorial appears to sag in the middle. This might represent the height of American pride before the war and the sudden national depression following the December attack. There are 3 sets of windows each with 7 windows for a total of 21 windows. The "7" might represent the date of the attack and the "21" might refer to a 21-gun salute or 21 marines at eternal rest. Guides say these stories were not the intent of the architect.

This photo by S. So much better than my shot of the same image.

The Memorial is an active military cemetery. Surviving members of the USS Arizona crew may choose to be interred within the ship or have their ashes spread above the ship. There are only 6 crew members who survive today. They range in age from 93-97. Inside the Memorial is a marble wall listing  the over 1100 crew who perished. A small plaque lists the approximately 30 survivors. In total about 2400 people lost their lives during the 2-hour attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1999 the USS Missouri was brought to the site and docked behind the USS Arizona. On the deck of this ship the Japanese surrendered to US General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz ending WWII. The USS Arizona was destroyed at the start US involvement  in WWII and the USS Missouri was witness to the conclusion of the war.