Arizona Memorial

The Arizona Memorial is a monument built on top of the sunken battleship USS Arizona. It was built in 1962 as a memorial to 1,177 men who died on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Arizona Memorial Design

The Arizona Memorial was designed by Austrian born architect Alfred Pries, a Honolulu resident.  His design has the memorial raise at both ends and sag in the middle. One end represents American pride before the war. The sag represents the initial defeat and the other end represents victory.

As you step off the navy shuttle boat onto the Arizona Memorial you walk through the entry into the assembly room.  The assembly room has seven windows on three sides. The seven is for December 7th.  The total number of windows is 21, which some people say represents a 21 military gun salute.  However, Mr. Pries did not have that intent when he designed the memorial.

In the assembly room you can look down through an opening in the floor to the Arizona below. Often the "Black Tears of the Arizona", leaking oil, can be seen through this opening. Flowers can be dropped into this opening, but the practice of dropping leis has been stopped because the string is bad for sea life.

As you continue to the back of the memorial, you enter the shrine room.  There is a wall with the names of those who died on the ship on the "Day of Infamy". There is also a plaque with the names of their shipmates who survived the attack.

The Shrine Room at the Arizona Memorial