In infamy

The Arizona in 1938

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, commemorating the day in 1941 when Japan attacked the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Many ships were damaged badly, but only two of them were total losses, U.S.S. Oklahoma and U.S.S. Arizona. The Navy tried to refloat the Oklahoma, but she was too badly damaged to return to service.

A bomb had crashed through the deck of the Arizona, and it set off fires in the ship's forward magazine, sinking the ship, and turning the mighty vessel into a tomb for 80% of the crew of 1,512.

Just as the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 became a rallying point as America began fighting Spain over the colonization of Cuba, the sinking of the Arizona became a hortatory cry for American entry and victory in the Second World War.

After that victory, Admiral Arthur Radford ordered a flagstaff to be erected on the wreck, with standing orders to raise the US colors on the site every day. As the years went by, wooden platforms and a plaque served as a visitor site, with more funding set aside as the Korean War took precedence. 

In 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law authorizing the raising of money to build an Arizona memorial. Plans called for a marble bridge to straddle the wreckage, but all that was planned would carry a price tag of half a million dollars. Fundraising efforts yielded spotty results at best...

Until 1960, when Sgt Elvis A. Presley, freshly mustered out of the US Army, agreed to perform a benefit concert at the 4,000 seat Bloch Arena at Pearl Harbor, a venue at which the Arizona band had played at a "Battle of Music" among service bands the night before the Pearl Harbor attack. The entire band had been killed in the devastation. but Elvis, as patriotic a man as he was great as a performer, filled the hall, with tickets ranging in price from $3 to $100. And everyone in attendance had to have a paid admission. Even Elvis paid his way in with the purchase of a $100 ticket.

The King performed with an all-star band, including his regular drummer, DJ Fontana, and guitarist Scotty Moore, who had served his Navy time at Pearl.

The show brought in $60,000 in ticket sales (including a $5,000 gift from Elvis) and served to publicize the Arizona Memorial project, which was completed and dedicated on May 30,1962. Elvis visited the site several more times over the years, but after that concert, he did not appear on stage for eight years.

Today, the memorial is visited by 1.5 million visitors a year.  And just as Elvis did not forget the Arizona, the Navy did not forget him. After the King's death in 1977, they placed a wreath for him at the Memorial.