The story about Elvis Presley and the USS Arizona Memorial is a relatively light-hearted story in contrast to the rest of the new Pearl Harbor exhibit at the museum which is called "Infamy: Pearl Harbor Remembered" which has its official opening on November 16 and will be on view until June 7 at the museum's Joe W. and Dorothy D. Brown Special Exhibit Gallery.
Visitors can see a 20-inch steel fragment from the USS Arizona, which shares a glass case with a chunk of wood from the USS Oklahoma. In a frame on a nearby wall is the flag that was raised on the USS St. Louis when the Japanese raid began.
"Remember Pearl Harbor" became a rallying cry for the United States afterwards and there are several propaganda posters in the exhibit on this theme.
Also in the exhibit, there are thumbnail sketches of people involved in the attack in what President Roosevelt called "The Day of Infamy."
One was Doris "Dorie" Miller, a Navy mess attendant aboard the battleship USS West Virginia. Even though he had never had training, he took over one of those guns and shot down two Japanese plan. A machine gun similar to the one he manned is also on display.
For this action, Miller became the first black person to receive the Navy Cross, which is one step below the Medal of Honor. Sadly, Doris was killed in November 1943 in the South Pacific when he was just 24.
--GreGen
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