The USS Arizona Memorial

The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the island of Oahu was the action that led to United States involvement in World War II.

The memorial, dedicated in 1962, spans the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Since it opened in 1980, the National Park Service has operated the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center associated with the memorial. Historical information about the attack, boat access to the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the center. One of the two 19,585 pound anchors of the Arizona is displayed at the entrance of the visitor center. (Its twin is at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.)
There are three main parts to the national memorial: entry, assembly room, and shrine. The central assembly room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the date of the attack. The total number of windows is 21. This stands for a 21 gun salute or 21 Marines standing at eternal parade rest over the tomb of the fallen. It also contains an opening in the floor overlooking the sunken decks of the oil-seeping wreck. (The oil seeping is sometimes referred to as "black tears" or "the tears of the Arizona".) It is from this opening that visitors come to pay their respects by tossing flowers and lei in honor of the fallen sailors. Every President of the United States since Franklin D. Roosevelt, and every Emperor of Japan since Hirohito, has made a pilgrimage to the site. The shrine at the far end is a marble wall that bears the names of all those killed on the USS Arizona, protected behind velvet ropes. Contrary to popular belief, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission. She is, however, an active U.S. military cemetery. As a special tribute to the ship and her lost crew, the United States flag flies from the flagpole, which was once attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship. The flag pole is now attached to the side of the memorial. The USS Arizona Memorial has come to commemorate all military personnel killed in the Pearl Harbor attack.


Design
The national memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth.

The navy stipulated that the memorial be in the form of a bridge floating above the ship and accommodate 200 people.

The 184 ft. long structure has two peaks at each end connected by a sag in the center of the structure. It represents the height of American pride before the war, the sudden depression of a nation after the attack and the rise of American power to new heights after the war. Critics initially called the design a "squashed milk carton".

The architecture of the USS Arizona Memorial is explained by Preis as, "Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory... The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses... his innermost feelings."

Preis was selected from several architects. His initial design included portholes below the surface and a floating eternal flame. The Navy vetoed this.