Floating white monument built above the sunken battleship USS Arizona, honoring the lives lost during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

How to Get There

From Honolulu, HI (10 mi): Take H-1 W to exit 15A, follow signs to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, and check in for the boat shuttle to the memorial.

Overview

The USS Arizona Memorial, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States' involvement in World War II.

The memorial, built in 1962, is visited by more than two million people annually. Accessible only by boat, it straddles the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Historical information about the attack, shuttle boats to and from the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the associated USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which opened in 1980 and is operated by the National Park Service. The battleship's sunken remains were declared a National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1989.

The USS Arizona Memorial is one of several sites in Hawaii that are part of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

Design

The national memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis.

. The United States Navy specified the memorial be in the form of a bridge floating above the ship and accommodating 200 people.

The 184-foot-long (56 m) structure has two peaks at each end connected by a sag in the center of the structure.

The national memorial has three main parts: entry, assembly room, and shrine. The central assembly room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the date of the attack.

The memorial also has an opening in the floor overlooking the sunken decks. It is from this opening that visitors can pay their respects by tossing flowers in honor of the fallen sailors. In the past, leis were tossed in the water, but because string from leis poses a hazard to sea life, leis now are placed on guardrails in front of the names of the fallen.

The memorial also has an opening in the floor overlooking the sunken decks. It is from this opening that visitors can pay their respects by tossing flowers in honor of the fallen sailors. In the past, leis were tossed in the water, but because string from leis poses a hazard to sea life, leis now are placed on guardrails in front of the names of the fallen.

The shrine at the far end is a marble wall that bears the names of all those killed on Arizona, protected behind velvet ropes. To the left of the main wall is a small plaque which bears the names of thirty or so crew members who survived the 1941 sinking.

USS Missouri

Upon the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese surrendered to United States General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, ending World War II. In 1999, Missouri was moved to Pearl Harbor from the United States west coast and docked behind, and in line, with USS Arizona, placing it perpendicular to the USS Arizona Memorial. The pairing of the two ships became an evocative symbol of the beginning and end of the United States' participation in the war.

The visitor center operated by the National Park Service is free to the public and has a museum with exhibits about the Pearl Harbor attack, such as the ship's bell from Arizona.

Access to the USS Arizona Memorial is by U.S. Navy boat, for which a numbered ticket, obtained at the visitor center and valid for a designated departure time, is required.

The battleship USS Missouri and the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor may also be visited, but require a bus ride to Ford Island.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pearl Harbor National Memorial", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0