Column: Reopening of USS Arizona Memorial is very welcome news

With the re-opening of the USS Arizona Memorial, visitors will once again experience this hallowed place so they can remember and honor the Americans killed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

They will peer down at the sunken battleship that remains a tomb for most of the 1,177 USS Arizona crewmen who died that Sunday morning when Japan attacked military installations on Oahu, launching the United States into World War II.

The USS Arizona Memorial, which opened in 1962, is important to Hawaii, our nation and the world.

And while its reopening is certainly welcome news, it should be noted the 15-month long closure negatively impacted the visitor experience and Hawaii’s economy.

Visitors from around the world expressed their frustration and disappointment over not being able to disembark on the Memorial to view the Shrine Room, drop flowers into Pearl Harbor, and pay their respects in person.

Some 4,300 visitors a day visit the Memorial — one of the state’s top visitor attractions — and many of them voted with their feet. Attendance at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial plummeted nearly 30 percent during the shutdown.

Expect those numbers to rebound now that the USS Arizona Memorial has reopened along with ongoing improvements at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.

Pacific Historic Parks (PHP) stands ready to help with the recovery.

We are a nonprofit with a storied history of working with the National Park Service in supporting efforts perpetuating the memory of historic events and honoring the people involved. We do that through education and interpretive programs, research, preservation and restoration.

PHP origins date back to the mid 1970’s when a dedicated group of Oahu volunteers with Branch 46 of the Fleet Reserve Association formed the Arizona Memorial Museum Foundation (AMMF). They raised the money to build the first Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. AMMF then became the Arizona Memorial Museum Association (AMMA) in partnership of the National Park Service’s stewardship of the USS Arizona Memorial.

In 2010 AMMA changed its name to Pacific Historic Parks while leading efforts to raise $54 million to replace the aging visitor center with a new center. The change in name also reflected additional Pacific war memorials in Guam and Saipan that are under the PHP umbrella, as well as partnerships with the National Park Service at Kalaupapa National Historical Park and with the state of Hawaii at the Diamond Head State Monument.

And we are partnering with the National Park Service to open a national monument dedicated to telling the story of Honouliuli, Hawaii’s largest internment camp located in Kunia pineapple fields on Oahu.

On Oct. 16, PHP will hold a 40th anniversary celebration to recognize our founders who had the vision and grit to build the visitor center, which has long served as the gateway to the newly reopened USS Arizona Memorial. We will also look to the future as we strive to always remember, honor and understand the impacts of World War II in the Pacific.

Aileen Utterdyke is president/CEO of Pacific Historic Parks, a nonprofit that works with the National Park Service in stewardship of the USS Arizona Memorial and other historic Pacific sites.