The USS Arizona Memorial is fully open following the completion of preservation work

Heroes & Survivors of Pearl Harbor

The men and women whose courage defined a generation. Their legacy lives on here.
Behind the casualty counts and battle maps are 2,335 service members and 68 civilians who never left Pearl Harbor, and the tens of thousands more who did — carrying the day with them for the rest of their lives. This collection gathers their stories: Doris Miller manning an anti-aircraft gun he was never trained to fire aboard the USS West Virginia, an act that earned him the Navy Cross; the chaplains and corpsmen who pulled wounded shipmates from burning oil-slicked water; the cooks, mess attendants, and ammunition handlers whose names rarely appear in the official histories but whose actions kept other men alive.

You'll find first-person testimony from the men interred in the USS Arizona Memorial, oral histories from survivors who returned decades later to be laid to rest alongside fallen brothers, and articles on the fallen still entombed within the wreck of the Arizona — a sacred space honored by the U.S. Navy to this day with active-duty rendering of honors as ships pass.

To pay respects in person, reserve tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial before your trip; same-day passes sell out fast in peak season.

Their accounts are presented here unvarnished and in their own words wherever possible, with context drawn from oral histories, ship logs, and family archives. The greatest threat to their legacy is not time — it is forgetting.

RASMUSSEN, Warren D.

April 16, 2015 · Randy Miller
F Battery 251 Coast Artillery (AA) (first casualties of the day - in a rented Piper Cub joyriding over the Ocean)
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GIVENS, Harold Reuben

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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GIOVENAZZO, Michael James

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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BROWN, Clyde C.

April 16, 2015 · Randy Miller
F Battery 251 Coast Artillery (AA) (first casualties of the day - in a rented Piper Cub joyriding over the Ocean)
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GILL, Richard Eugene

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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BLACKWELL, Henry C.

April 16, 2015 · Randy Miller
Henry C. Blackwell was taking flying lessons in a rented Piper Cub when he was shot down over John Rodgers Airport.  He was one of the first three to be killed in the attack. Read this fascinating article about how Henry C. Blackwell's death was removed from the movie Tora, Tora, Tora. http://patch.com/california/belmontshore/first-dead-at-pearl-harbor-offduty-gis    
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GIESEN, Karl Anthony

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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GIBSON, Billy Edwin

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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GHOLSTON, Roscoe

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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GEMIENHARDT, Samuel Henry Jr.

April 16, 2015 · Jason Alghussein
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