Pearl Harbor | Page 9 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 7, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Prince Kūhiō’s View on Pearl Harbor

“I shall simply cite some historical facts to show how conclusively and for how long a time the strategic value of Pearl Harbor and the Hawaiian Islands has been officially recognized by the Government of the United States.”

“Beginning in 1842, President Tyler gave notice to European nations that the United States would never consent to their occupying the Hawaiian Islands.”

“In 1851, when the French were threatening to occupy Hawaii, Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, wrote: ‘I hope the French will not take possession of Hawaii; but if they do, they will be dislodged, if my advice is taken, if the whole power of the Government is required to do it.’”

“William L. Marcy, when Secretary of State, reiterated the declaration that Hawaii would not be permitted to fall into the hands of any European nation. Up to that time there was no menace of Hawaiian occupation by any nation other than European.”

“Almost a third of a century ago, when King Kalakaua was the reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States, by reciprocity treaty, obtained rights over the waters of Pearl Harbor. This was the first step toward carrying out the policy announced by President Tyler thirty-five years previously.”

“Coming down to the days of Blaine and McKinley, we find those, statesmen repeating the declarations of their predecessors.”

“By the time that President McKinley reached the White House, it had become apparent that the danger of the occupation of Hawaii by a foreign power had been shifted from European nations to those of the Orient.”

“Finally, ten years ago, when the unexpected events of the Spanish-American war thrust a new situation upon this nation, it became apparent that it was necessary for the United States to acquire the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands, both for the protection of the Pacific coast and in order to make it possible to maintain any naval base in the Far East.”

“But although this Government annexed the Hawaiian Islands for the particular value of their strategic location, they have permitted almost ten years to pass without turning a sod or laying one foundation stone toward the actual construction of a naval station at Pearl Harbor.”

“It is true that a magnificent site of over 600 acres of ground has been acquired for this purpose.”

“The 10 square miles of landlocked waters in Pearl Harbor could easily accommodate the combined fleets of this nation and of Great Britain, but that can never give shelter to a battle ship till docks are built and the channel approach is straightened.”

“The importance of Pearl Harbor as a naval and military base has been repeatedly urged by men able and experienced in military and naval science; among them Captain (now Admiral) AT Mahan, who pointed out with unanswerable arguments the commanding importance of Pearl Harbor as the key to the Pacific.”

“Gentlemen of the committee, this Government has for ten years neglected the safeguard of preparing a naval base in the mid-Pacific.”

“Our relations with other nations are such to-day that it would be inexcusable neglect of the responsibility of Congress to the nation to postpone the beginning of this work another year.”

“The Navy Department and the General Board are at last keenly awake to the urgent need of opening Pearl Harbor and building a dry dock there at once. Both these lines of work should be carried on together, and both should be provided for in this bill.”

“I would respectfully suggest that your committee invite Admiral Dewey or some member of the Naval Board to appear before you and state to you personally in an executive session some of their reasons for the urgency of work at Pearl Harbor, which they may not care to transmit to you in writing.”

“The development of Pearl Harbor is not a Hawaiian proposition; it is a national need. But as my nation gave over its sovereignty to this country ten years ago, we have a right to ask, and we do ask that adequate protection be provided for our islands, so that we could not be captured by a single hostile battle ship as could be done to-day.”

“Coast fortifications alone are not sufficient; there must be an operating base for war vessels as well as coast defenses, and the latter are useless without the former.”

“Hawaii should be defended for its own protection; but I repeat that it is far more important for the offensive and defensive plans of the nation as a whole.” (Prince Kūhiō Statement, Committee on Naval Affairs, January 29, 1908)

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U.S.. Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, looking North East by East,(NHHC) circa 1918

November 14, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Endicott – Taft

William Endicott was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in November 1826, to a prominent family with deep colonial roots. He studied at Harvard College, graduating from Harvard Law School in 1850. He then established his own law practice.

When Massachusetts expanded its supreme court, Endicott was named to one of the new seats in 1873; he served on the high court for nine years. Endicott resigned in 1882, citing ill health. (UVA)

During the 1870s, several advances took place in the design and construction of heavy ordnance, including the development of breech-loading, longer-ranged cannon, increasingly made of steel rather than iron. Coupled with these developments was a growing alarm over the obsolescence of existing seacoast defenses.

In 1883, the navy began a new construction program for the first time since the Civil War. The navy’s new ships were to be used offensively rather than defensively. This naval policy, along with the advances in weapon technology, required a new system of seacoast defenses which would safeguard America’s harbors and free the navy for its new role. (Coastal Defense Study Group)

In 1885 President Cleveland made Endicott his secretary of war. A joint army, navy, and civilian board was formed, headed by Endicott, to evaluate proposals for new defenses.

The Endicott Board of Fortifications, created by Congress in March 1885, recommended a major improvement program for the modernization of port defenses along the Eastern seaboard and Great Lakes. (UVA)

From 1890 to 1905, the United States undertook a massive program to modernize its coastal defenses. Known as the Endicott era; the huge construction program resulted in all the major harbors being fortified with newly designed steel guns ranging in size from 3 to 12 inches in diameter of bore and 12-inch, breech-loading mortars.

The gun emplacements were constructed with reinforced concrete and had huge earthen or sand parapets in front. Bombproof magazines were placed far underground.

Electrically controlled submarine mine defense projects were developed for the harbors, and fire control systems for locating targets and directing artillery fire were developed.

Improvements in design and construction techniques were made as the program moved forward and those batteries constructed toward the end of the period were more efficient than the early works. Hawaii’s coastal defenses, coming after those on the mainland, would be the beneficiary of these improvements.

As construction wound down on the mainland in 1905, concerns about the state of the nation’s defenses were still heard. A few
important harbors, such as Los Angeles, still lacked fortifications, as did the new American overseas interests, including Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Panama Canal, then under construction.

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Secretary of War William H. Taft to head a new National Coast Defense Board to review the state of the defenses and to further their effectiveness technically. (Thompson)

In January 1905 Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H. Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) ‘to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions.’ (Dorrance)

The improvements resulting from the Taft Board’s work included organization of coastal searchlights in batteries for the illumination of harbor entrances, electrification of the fortifications (lighting, communications, ammunition handling), and development of a modern system of aiming.

Since these advances coincided with the construction of Oahu’s fortifications, the new gun and mortar batteries and the mine defense may be said to be from the Taft period. (Thompson)

The Taft Board report recommended in 1906 that O’ahu’s defenses consist of fortifications that defended Honolulu Harbor and Pearl Harbor. The recommendations were refined by a joint Army and Navy board in 1908, and the harbor defense buildup on O’ahu followed the refinements until the onset of World War I.

In 1908 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in the midst of constructing O‘ahu armored fortifications in accordance with the recommendations of the joint board.

These weapons were to be emplaced within new military reservations that were eventually named Forts Armstrong, Kamehameha, DeRussy and Ruger.

Fort Armstrong (Battery Tiernon) got two 3-inch cannons in 1909; Fort Kamehameha got two 12-inch cannons at Battery Salfridge in 1907 and eight 12-inch mortars at Battery Hasbrouck in 1909); Fort DeRussy got two 14-inch cannons at Battery Randolph and two six-inch cannons at Battery Dudley; and Fort Ruger got eight 12-inch mortars at Battery Harlow in 1907. (Dorrance)

The forts and battery emplacements were constructed according to the concepts of the times. The batteries were dispersed for concealment and to insure that a projectile striking one would not thereby endanger a neighbor. They were open to the rear to facilitate ammunition service at a rapid rate.

The mortars were emplaced four to a pit and were secure when exposed to the flat naval fire of the time. The guns were mounted on disappearing carriages that remained concealed behind a frontal parapet until elevated to fire. (Dorrance)

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Battery_Randolph-Fort_DeRussy-(army-mil)

From 1908 until 1917 most of the troops at Fort DeRussy lived under canvas-(CoastDefenseJournal)

Target Practice by the 10th Company, CAC, with the 14-inch guns of Battery Randolph in July 1915-(CoastDefenseJournal)

Target Practice at Battery Dudley-(CoastDefenseJournal)-1938

One of Battery Randolph’s 14-inch M1907M1 guns on its disappearing carriage-(CoastDefenseJournal)

Fort_Ruger-Battery_Harlow-(NPS)-1982

Fort_Armstrong-colorized-(Hammatt)-1911-1920

Fort Kamehameha 12-inch railroad mortars-1930s

Fort Kamehameha 8-inch railway guns, 1930s

Fort DeRussy is nearly complete – area north (right) is still generally undeveloped-Battery Dudley in lower center-CoastDefenseJourna)-1919

Encampment of the 3rd Balloon Company at Fort Ruger on back side of Diamond Head.

September 18, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

USS Shaw

“John Shaw was born at Mt. Mellick, Queens County, Ireland, in 1773. In 1790, he came to the United States, settled in Philadelphia and entered the merchant marine.”

“Appointed lieutenant in the United States Navy in 1798, he (later) assumed command of the schooner Enterprise in which, during the next year, he captured seven armed French vessels and recaptured several American merchantmen.”

“During the Barbary Wars, Shaw commanded the frigate John Adams in the Mediterranean under Commodore Rodgers from May to November 1804. During the War of 1812, he also commanded the frigate United States. Captain Shaw died at Philadelphia 17 September 1823.” (Destroyer History)

An iconic image of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, shows the USS Shaw, named after John Shaw. “Shaw (DD-373) was laid down on 1 October 1934 at the United States Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa.; launched on 28 October 1935; sponsored by Miss Dorothy L. Tinker; and commissioned on 18 September 1936, Lt. Comdr. E.A. Mitchell in command.”

“Following commissioning, Shaw remained at Philadelphia until April 1937 when she crossed the Atlantic on her shakedown cruise. … Shaw conducted training exercises in the Atlantic for the remainder of the year. She then transited to the Pacific and underwent overhaul at Mare Island from 8 January to 4 April 1939.”

“Shaw remained on the west coast until April 1940 participating in various exercises and providing services to carriers and submarines operating in the area.”

“In April she sailed for Hawaii where she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, an eight phased operation for the defense of the Hawaiian area. She remained in the Hawaiian area until November when she returned to the west coast for overhaul.”

“Back in the Hawaiian area by mid-February 1941, Shaw operated in those waters until November when she entered the Navy Yard at Pearl Harbor for repairs, drydocking in YFD-2. … On 7 December, Shaw was still drydocked.” (Destroyer History)

(USS Shaw was in the old New Orleans floating drydock (YFD2) at the Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The weather was clear, with scattered clouds.”

“Three bombs struck the ship between 0755 and 0915. … The subsequent fire can be ascribed to ruptured oil tanks. The first two … bombs apparently struck the machine gun platform … and penetrated the gun shelter platform, forecastle and main decks. They perhaps exploded in the crew’s mess room on the first platform deck.”

“It appears that all three hits were made at about the same time. Fire broke out at once. Twenty minutes later the forward magazines blew up. This explosion severed the bow at about frame 65 with the exception of some bottom structure.”

“The dock was deliberately flooded to prevent more damage to it. As it sank, the bow of Shaw toppled over to starboard and went down with the dock. The Yard tug Sotoyomo was also in the dock and sank with it.” (Destroyer History)

“The USS Shaw lost 24 crewmen during the Pearl Harbor attack. Temporary repairs were made at Pearl Harbor, with the installation of a new bow and remaining repairs completed in San Francisco in June of 1943.”

“Returning to active duty for the remainder of World War II, the Shaw saw action at Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Philippines.” (WWII Headquarters)

“Shaw arrived in San Francisco on 19 May. Repairs and alterations took her into August. The work was accomplished on the 20th. She then departed for the east coast.”

“On arrival at Philadelphia, she was routed to New York for deactivation. Decommissioned on 2 October 1945, her name was struck from the Navy list two days later. Her hulk was scrapped in July 1946. Shaw earned eleven battle stars during World War II.” (Destroyer History)

In the attack on Pearl Harbor nineteen US Navy ships, including 8 battleships were destroyed or damaged; there were 2,403 people killed and 1,178 wounded. Among the deceased were 2,008 Navy personnel, 109 Marine, 218 Army and 68 civilians. (navy-mil)

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Shaw-Pearl_Harbor-12-1941-400

USS_Shaw-_Pearl_Harbor_attack

USS Shaw (DD-373)-post-Pearl Harbor attack

USS Shaw (DD-373) post-Pearl Harbor attack

19-N-31382

19-N-88279

NH 97421

USS Shaw (DD-373)

19-N-88286

19-N-88284

May 23, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Blackouts Before the Bombing

“From 1931 onward, Japan had been increasing aggressive in Asia. They had gone to war and taken over Manchuria, then they went to war openly with China in 1937, and (later) took over French IndoChina.” (Brown)

The threat of war was increasing. “By the late 1930s Schofield Barracks was the largest army base in the country, which is astonishing, and Pearl harbor was this huge naval base.” (Brown)

The Honolulu District of the US Army Corps of Engineers was involved with intense planning and vast preparations for what was an increasing possibility of a war in the Pacific. (Fitzgerald)

The possibility of a Japanese attack was real.

“Notwithstanding the seeming ‘normality’ of the prewar years, both military and civil authorities were taking steps to prepare for possible conflict”.

“Navy fleet exercises as early as 1938 simulated attacks on US defensive positions. On March 29, 1938, Hilo was the object of an exercise mounted by joint Army and Navy operations.”

“On May 23, 1940, the territory of Hawaii conducted its first island-wide ‘blackout’ requiring residences and business to shut off or shield their lights, cars to stay off the roads, and towns and cities to cut the power to streetlights.” (Chapman)

“Army Planes to Drop Leaflets On Blackout … Switching the entire territory into total darkness on the night of May 23 as part of maneuvers of the Hawaiian Department of the army is being prepared for on a wide as well as intensive scale. The smallest detail will not be spared to make this first territory-wide blackout a complete success.”

“For many weeks military officials have been working with the cooperation of civilian committeemen so that the blackout of the islands will be staged with the utmost precision and with the least possible inconvenience.”

“Army authorities announced that, in the effort to convey the information to all possible persons on all the islands, army planes will leave Hickam field on May 21 and shower the whole territory with blackout leaflets.”

“The message will be in English, Japanese, Chinese and Filipino and will serve as a reminder that cooperation of every one in the territory is imperative.”

“The ‘bombardment’ with blackout notices will be over Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Molokai and Lanai. On Oahu, similar notices are being sent out through the mails and by house to house distribution.”

“Separated island residents will also receive these notices by mail. Planes will drop about 50,000 leaflets on out-islands. About 200,000 leaflets in all will be distributed.”

“Through the circulars the entire territory will be sent the message: ‘Blackout enemy planes will simulate attack on your island, Thursday night, May 23rd, 1940, sometime between 8:30 and 9 pm.’”

“‘When warning bells are rung or sirens are, sounded, IMMEDIATELY put out all lights, inside and outside. Turn off all signs. Don’t use flashlights, matches, etc. Blackout completely.”

“‘While the raid is only make-believes, do your part in this rehearsal for an event we hope will never come. Outblack the last blackout.’” (Nippu Jiji, May 8, 1940)

“The territory conducted a second island-wide blackout on May 20, 1941 … Yet another blackout exercise occurred on August 23.” (Chapman)

Then, it happened … Shortly before 8 am, December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft from six aircraft carriers struck the Pacific Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor and other sites on O‘ahu.

According to plans developed over a decade earlier, martial law was imposed on Hawai‘i the same day of the bombing December 7, 1941. (Tanigawa)

“General Order 16 prescribed the painting of automobile headlights for night travel. It prescribed that the headlights be painted with black center and the tail lights be painted entirely blue.”

“The requirement that automobile headlights be painted might seem silly at a time when a war was going on but I can certify that it was a very serious matter. In operating a car in blackout it was imperative that each driver know which way the other was going.”

“Until it was satisfactorily regulated, it was like being blindfolded during a battle royal. It was next to impossible to proceed faster than a snail’s pace and even this was at great peril.”

“The color of the required painting was changed a number of times in an effort to satisfy drivers and also pedestrians. The latter complained bitterly that they had no protection against drivers who could not see them, and that they had to ‘run for it’ at all times and could not tell which way the automobile was moving.”

“On their side, the drivers complained that pedestrians loomed up in front of them at the most unexpected times and places. The lens color finally adopted was dull red which could be seen by drivers and pedestrians, if they concentrated on it and could not be seen by aircraft.” (Maj Gen Thomas H Green)

Beginning in July 1942 the powers of government were gradually restored to civilian authority, but some degree of martial law continued.

On February 8, 1943, power was restored to the Governor, the courts and the legislature. The commanding general proclaimed, “Full jurisdiction and authority are hereby relinquished by the Commanding General to the Governor and other officers of the Territory of Hawaiʻi”. (Anthony)

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Blackout Notice-May 23, 1940

Practice Blackout Notice-BishopMuseum-May 1941

March 28, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Alfred Preis

“I do believe deeply that the arts (reside) in the truly human area, where each individual is going to do something he or she does because he or she wants to do something well and does it better and better and better until he or she is gratified; that this is the essence of a successful life. Because you can do that as a cook, you can do that by making beds.” (Alfred Preis)

“I hoped to be interned! I wanted America to win the war, and if I hadn’t been picked up, I would have lost confidence in the authorities.” (Pries; Clarke)

Whoa … let’s look back …

Alfred Preis was one of 112 Germans and Italians – both aliens and naturalized citizens – who were interned in Hawai‘i on December 8, three days before the US went to war. (Clarke)

Preis “was born February 2, 1911, in Vienna, Austria. That was before the outbreak of the First World War. I lived at that time in a working-class district. My grandfather, whom I never knew, was a furniture maker and had his workshop there.”

“And my father was in the army and sent his wife to live somewhere near the grandmother, so that she would be sheltered and protected and have help. I lived in that area for three years and got ill, because the living conditions in Vienna at that time were dreadful. The apartments were not worth anything.”

“My grandmother lived in a suite composed of a large kitchen and one room, and to get into the room you had to walk through the kitchen. The only illumination at that time was kerosene lamps, which absorbed all the oxygen in the room.” (Preis; SFCA)

“But the situation in Vienna at that time-already before the outbreak of the war – was so that tuberculosis was all-prevalent. And when I was four years old, I got a touch of [tuberculosis] on my lungs.”

“The war broke out in 1914. [The sanatorium] was administered by the wives and daughters of Austrian aristocrats. It was a little chalet – a hunting chalet – up on the foothills of the Alps. I was dropped there by my mother, and she was advised, evidently, to leave me (without saying goodbye).”

“I (was released) after about half a year, not only hale but a different person. They planted seeds in me of curiosity-of (love for) literature (and good German). But the sheer interest these women had in us left an imprint on me which I still cherish. It was very important (for my future education).”

“I (grew up) in Catholicism. My father, however, was Jewish. Under the Nazi’s law I would have been considered half Jewish or Jewish, which (in effect) is the same thing. I was in danger.”

“My future wife also was in danger, although she was Catholic. She came as a refugee from the Russian Revolution and had to leave, as a child at that time, without a passport. So she had no citizenship, and she was vulnerable therefore.”

“The Nazis announced that they will put into concentration camp gypsies and loafers. And we were afraid that something would happen to her. We knew the Nazis would come. We still never talked about marriage or of intentions like that. After graduating from high school in 1929, he traveled throughout Europe and later returned to Vienna to study architecture.” (Preis; SFCA)

“We got our papers. But then we had to have a valid passport, which we had originally. But every time the Nazis reorganized the status of Austria, it meant that it had to be a different passport. So I think we had about five passports. The fina passport was a Nazi passport.”

“(W)e found out that the Queen Mary – an English ship, (and the fastest liner at the time) – that they (sold with the tickets) board money. That means (we) could pay with German money and get scrips. And (what we didn’t spend on board), they will (refund) them then in (dollars).”

“We arrived on April the 6th, 1939, in New York, before Easter – we saw an Easter parade on the 5th Avenue – and left on the 28th of May. Now before we could do that, we had to find contacts. I still wanted to go to Hawai’i. We had a letter [from] the priest who married us to a Catholic refugee organization in New York, which we presented.”

“(T)here was a priest – his name was Father Ostermann – and he was very different from the Austrian clerics. He was a very worldly man, experienced, had a sense of humor. I suspect he was skeptical, but certainly he was frivolous. And he said, “What do you want?”

“And we showed him our letter. ‘We would like to go to Hawaii’ (a destination they chose after seeing movies about the South Seas. (Clarke)) Father Ostermann looked at it and said, ‘Let me try.’ He obtained a waiver of a particular prohibition that people could [not] travel from an American port to another American port on a freighter.”

“Maybe Hawai’i was, to them, still a foreign port. He had to get that waiver. So we actually were then booked as a passenger on a 9,000 ton ship (of the Pioneer Line), a freight boat called the Sawoklah. And we were supposed to go through the [Panama] Canal to Hawai’i. … Then we left.” (Preis; SFCA)

Upon arrival in the Islands, he went to work with an architectural firm; “I did (design) a great number of (buildings) and residences, predominantly for Chinese.”

Then, that fateful day that changed the Islands and the world … “(we heard shooting and felt the impact of bombs or shots. And I turned to my wife and said, ‘That’s a very realistic maneuver today.’”

“At ten-thirty we … turned it to radio. KGU every Sunday at ten-thirty had a symphony concert, which we turned on. There was no symphony. There was a man who said, ‘This is not a maneuver. This is the real McCoy.’ We couldn’t believe it. We were all prepared for it, but we couldn’t believe it.”

“About seven o’clock in the evening … (following) the attack (on Pearl Harbor) – two men in civil[ian dress] came and said, ‘We have to ask you to come with us. We have to ask some questions. You will be back very soon.’”

“But it was seven o’clock in the evening. Somehow my upbringing under the Nazis made me skeptical. I said, ‘Do you mind if we take some toothbrushes along?’ ‘Well, you don’t need them, but okay, if you want to.’ We were the only people with toothbrushes.”

“We drove very, very slowly at that time (through the) darkened streets. The headlights were blue – later on red – (painted) with a tiny slit (for) the light (to shine through). And so the cars were creeping. I recognized – it was dark already, it was December – that we (were driving) to the immigration station.”

“We came to a one-story building which used to be a part of the quarantine station for immigrants. (The) man in charge, a major (who was originally) a customs officer, was (evidently) overanxious (and) strict. He (made us strip off) our (wedding) rings, which made me break down. Not even the Nazis took my wedding ring.”

“I was very nervous. I was worried about my wife. I made such a scene there that he returned all of our rings to all of us. With that man we had other (troubles). We were moved to an open area. There was a bunch of rolled up tents, and they said, ‘Erect them.’ So we built tents.”

“We were guarded by people from the national guard, local people. Some of them we were befriended with (from before). They were tired, and they didn’t have any sleep, (so) they begged us to (let them) sleep in our tent and that we would watch them so they wouldn’t get caught, which we did.”

“There were two camps side by side, separated by about (a) twenty-feet (wide maze) of barbed wire. We, the Haoles, were about fifty men. The Japanese camp had about 2,500”.

“The difference between the Japanese camp and ours was striking. Every tent – they had tents, as we did – (was adorned with tiny) pebbles, shells, and coral (splinters). They picked (them) up, and they made patterns like stone gardens out of it – neat, beautiful, clean, (with an innate genius) compared to us. We (at most) picked up cigarette butts (which our men just) threw away.”

“We saw that (from our) fifty people-Germans, Norwegians, Italians, (Austrians, and) Hungarians, all people (whose countries) were invaded and occupied by the Nazis and therefore (suspect) – small groups were leaving the camp.”

“The others, we later learned, were shipped to the Mainland. My wife and I and two others were left over. But eventually we were released on parole on March 28, 1942.” (Preis; SFCA)

Preis returned to his architectural practice. A notable, now iconic, structure was the USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day.

The memorial, which was dedicated in 1962 and spans the sunken hull of the battleship Arizona, without touching it. The memorial visually floats above the water like an out stretched white sail hovering above the waters of the harbor.

The memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis, his design set out to create a bridge that would float above the battleship with room for approximately 200 visitors at a time. (Johnston)

Critics of the memorial’s design have likened it to a “squashed milk carton,” but the USS Arizona Memorial’s design is a little more complex than that. Preis had a clear idea in mind when he designed the memorial and everything about it serves a purpose.

The structure is about 184 feet long, and at both ends, it rises. The peaks are connected to a sag in the middle of the structure. This was no random design choice. It’s a metaphor for the United States at the time of World War II.

On one side, the first peak represents the country’s pride before the war. In the middle, the sag represents the shock and depression the country faced just after the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor.

One the other side of the structure, the second peak represents the might and power of the US after the war. Together, all three components tell a story. (Visit Pearl Harbor)

In 1963, Preis became state planning coordinator. While serving in that position, he helped draft the bill that established the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts [SFCA] in 1965. Preis served as acting executive director of the SFCA until July 1, 1966, when he was formally appointed executive director. He retired from the position in 1980. (SFCA)

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