It’s unfortunate that for nearly five months now, thousands of visitors who show up daily to see one of the most revered spots in American battle history have been unable to set foot on the
USS Arizona Memorial.
Until this week, the make-do response — until a damaged floating dock at the site is replaced with a new anchoring system — had been to offer harbor tours that pass near the watery grave site for over 900 men who gave their lives on Dec. 7, 1941.
Now even those tours have stopped — as has the rest of the Arizona Memorial program, including documentary screenings that precede the boat ride — while the National Park Service, in tandem with Navy personnel, try to patch a 180-foot-long shoreside dock that has dipped below the waterline.
The shutdown is surely a disappointment for visitors who rank the memorial’s poignant shrine room as a must-see destination. The shrine is fronted by a marble wall etched with the names of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Those who could not be recovered from the ship remain on-board the sunken vessel, making the site an active military cemetery.
In response to the initial dock damage, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument rightly pushed for repair and reopening as a top priority. But nearly five months later, the Arizona Memorial remains, unacceptably, closed to the public, with progress stymied. There’s hope to have the floating dock in working order by Thanksgiving. Veterans Day, which falls nearly two weeks earlier, on Nov. 11, should be the goal, given the solemn significance of that holiday.
WWII Valor in the Pacific oversees operations at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, which remains open, as well as the USS Utah and USS Oklahoma memorials on nearby Ford Island. It also oversees other areas related to the Pacific War, such as the Honouliuli National Monument.
The need to thoroughly address dock damage is one thing. But given the daily visitor count of 4,000 to 5,000 people at the WWII monument, expeditious work is of the essence. And with Hawaii serving as a home to all five armed forces, tapping military engineering or ingenuity for a fix should have been possible by now.
In May, superficial cracks were found in the Arizona Memorial’s concrete near the metal access ramp. More concerning, though, was a discovery that the 105-foot floating concrete pier that served as a boat landing was tugging on the 4-ton,
30-foot metal bridge connecting the dock to the 56-year-old site. When it became apparent that the pushing and pulling had sliced off a stainless-steel attachment bolt, the site was closed and repair plans drafted.
In the case of the shoreside dock, which is nearly 20 years old and nearing the end of its lifespan, both Park Service officials and Navy personnel had some advance notice that it was in trouble.
Fitted with 10 floating chambers, two had been taking on some water for months, with crews pumping them out as needed. Park Service and Navy personnel teamed up with Joint Base Pearl Harbor-
Hickam to try to mitigate last weekend’s sinkage, but the dock remained partially sunk, forcing the unfortunate cancellation all this week of Memorial harbor tours.
Whether the shoreside dock can be patched and boat tours resumed next week, as the Park Service hopes, remains to be seen. Meanwhile Pacific Historic Parks, a nonprofit that supports the Arizona Memorial and other Pacific historic sites, is trying to raise
$1.7 million to match the same amount in federal funding to replace the shoreside dock in 2019.
Just last month President Donald Trump signed off on a defense budget for fiscal year 2019 that dramatically ramps up Pentagon spending. Hawaii’s congressional delegation should be advocating for federal funds to be funnelled
toward proper, proactive maintenance and operation of esteemed memorial sites, such as the
USS Arizona.
