USS Arizona Memorial

USS Arizona Memorial. . , Dedicated to the 1,177 men who gave their lives on the U.S.S. Arizona and all those who have bravely served the United States of America., Billy Edwin Gibson of Atchison County is entombed in the U.S.S. Arizona., Air raid! Pearl Harbor! This is no drill! , These were the words that echoed from military radio operators on December 7, 1941. It was at 07:57 that the skies over Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, became filled with Japanese airplanes. It was a surprise attack and America was not even at war. In the first thirteen minutes, the battleship U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39) went down with 1,177 of our Sailors and Marines., The Arizona was commissioned in 1916 and stationed with the Atlantic Fleet until 1921. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet until 1929, was modernized and then returned to the Pacific Fleet in 1931. On the sixth of December, 1941, she pulled into Pearl Harbor from a training exercise, never to leave again. During the attack, she was hit by one aerial torpedo and eight bombs. The last bomb struck the forward gunpowder magazine, dealing the death blow to the ship., During the attack 2,403 military personnel and civilians were killed and 1,178 were wounded. On December 8, President Roosevelt delivered his famous "Day of Infamy" speech calling for a declaration of war on Japan. By December 11, America was also at war with Nazi Germany and Italy. World War Two had become a global conflict., About this relic , This relic came from the aft deckhouse superstructure (shown in red) of the battleship U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39), which was lost during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December, 1941., Almost ten percent of the casualties on the Arizona were from the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa. Out of thirty seven sets of brothers assigned to the Arizona, eleven sets were from these same four states., The relic was brought to Atchison through the U.S. Navy's U.S.S. Arizona Relics Program. The Navy has donated the relic to the Pershing Chapter of the Military Officers Association of American (MOAA), who has agreed that the relic will be permanently displayed at this memorial., This memorial is an Eagle Scout project by Lawton Paul Huffman, of Troop 1351, done in cooperation with the City of Atchison, Kansas, the Riverfront Development Foundation Inc., and the Pershing Chapter of the MOAA., This tribute to our U.S. Military became a reality through the generous support and donations of many individuals and businesses.