Pearl Harbor National Memorial

The push

A memorial was approved in 1958, and an Elvis Presley concert helped fund it

The Pacific War Memorial Commission was created in 1949. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a National Memorial in 1958, to be privately financed. A benefit concert by Elvis Presley on March 25, 1961 was his final live performance until 1968.

The design

Alfred Preis designed a bridge that sags in the center and stands at the ends

The memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis. The Navy specified a bridge floating above the ship, accommodating 200 people. The structure has two peaks joined by a sag in the center, and critics initially called it a squashed milk carton.

The rooms

The assembly room has seven open windows on either wall and the ceiling

The memorial has three main parts: entry, assembly room and shrine. Seven large open windows on either wall and the ceiling commemorate the date of the attack. An opening in the floor overlooks the sunken decks. Leis are now placed on guardrails, because string poses a hazard to sea life.

Black tears

Oil still rises from the wreck and is called the tears of the Arizona

Oil leaking from the sunken battleship can still be seen rising to the water's surface. It is sometimes called the tears of the Arizona or black tears. The National Park Service says it has an ongoing program that closely monitors the vessel's condition.

The resting place

The memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 lost on the Arizona

The memorial 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. It was formally dedicated on May 30, 1962. A marble wall in the shrine bears the names of all those killed.

1,102of the 1,177 lost on the Arizona rest at the memorial