From the November 2021 Military History magazine.
I knew about the USS Oklahoma's unknowns but had never thought about the unknowns of the USS Arizona. Everyone knows of the ones entombed in the hull of that stricken ship, but what about those whose bodies were recovered, but were too messed up to identify?
The remains of 85 USS Arizona sailors are entombed at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (aka Punchbowl Cemetery) in Honolulu. They are buried as "Unknowns."
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced plans to reinter ths group's remains on the wreck of the ship. What galls the families of the 85 is that there are no plans to attempt to identify them like was done with the Oklahoma unknowns.
--GreGen
Like with the article on why the USS Arizona stayed where she was, this article had a whole lot of pictures of the USS Utah from when it was being built, to its conversion into a target ship and Pearl Harbor.
Well worth going to the article and looking at them.
Also, there are a lot of pictures of the USS Arizona in the article.
--GreGen
The USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania-class battleship commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1916. At the time, it was one of the most powerful warships in the world. It had twelve 14-inch guns (three each in four turrets).
It saw action in World War I and in the years following the war served as a training ship and was modernized on several occasions to keep pace with new develoments in naval architecture.
Sadly, its most significant moment in history came at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when it was struck by several bombs, one of which exploded in a forward magazine causing a huge explosion.
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THE BOMB
The Japanese had turned an obsolete 16 inch shell from a Nagato-class battleship into a special bomb. They also had modified obsolete Type 88 shells in 1939-1940 to create the Type 99 Number 80 Mk 5 armor piercing bomb.
You really need to look at this articles for pictures and other information.
--GreGen
From the March 31, 2023, Rebellion Research.
This article has a whole lot of pictures of the USS Arizona dating from its construction to its end. Well worth checking it out for that reason alone.
The battleship was left where it sank for several reasons.
1. Salvaging the ship would have taken a whole lot of resources, time and manpower, something that was needed elsewhere in the war effort.
2. The ship had become the tomb for over 1,000 crew members. Moving it would have disturbed the remains of them and been disrespectful to their memory.
3. Leaving the ship where it was serves as a symbol for their sacrifice.
--GreGen
From the February 14, 2023, KTAR News. "5 things you should know about Arizona as it celebrates 111 years of statehood."
USS ARIZONA
Almost half the casualties suffered at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, occurred in the USS Arizona. The battleship took four direct hits from Japanese bombers. The last bomb ignited stored gunpowder. When it blew up, the ship split into two and sank.
It became the final resting place for 1,777 officers and crewmen.
The USS Arizona was commissioned in 1916, but had been ordered to be built in 1913, a little over a year from when its namesake state was admitted to the Union.
The ship did not see action in World War I, but was eventually stationed in Hawaii in April 1940 as war with Japan became a real possibility. It had been in drydock for repairs shortly before the attack.
Fuel still leaks from the wreckage, spilling into the harbor from the memorial site built over the ship.
The Tears of the Arizona. --GreGen
From the Bluefield Daily Telegraph
World War II veteran Bill Stewart, 93, participates in an event celebrating the upcoming birthday of fellow veteran Joseh Eskenazi, who at 104 years and 11 months old, is considered to be the oldest living veteran to survive the Pearl Harbor attack.
The event was held at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Wednesday, January 11, 2023.
According to the museum, Stewart served in the Occupation of Japan. And, he is believed to be the youngest living World War II veteran.
He remembers going aboard the battleship USS Arizona as a Boy Scout when its home port was in Long Beach, California.
He is one of the last three people living who were on the Arizona.
--GreGen
Organizers have set a theme of "Everlasting Legacy" for the ceremony, highlighting how fewer and fewer survivors remain.
"We honestly have to know and be prepared that eventually we won't have the ability to connect with their stories and have them with us anymore," David Kilton of the NPS said.
Conter hasn't forgotten his shipmates.
He said he'd like the military to try to identify USS Arizona sailors whose bodies were found and buried as unknowns in a Honolulu cemetery after the war.
"They should never give up on that issue. If they're ever identified, I'm sure their families would want to bury them at home or wherever, but they should never give up on trying to identfy them," he said.
--GreGen
On Wednesday, December 7, the U.S. Navy and the National Park service will host a remembrance ceremony at Pearl Harbor in honor of those killed.
Last year about 30 survivors and some 100 other veterans of the war made the pilgrimage to the annual event. But, they only anticipate one or two survivors will likely attend this year's event in person. Another 20-30 veterans of World War II are also expected to be there.
Lou Conter won't be among them, however. He attended for many years, most recently in 2019. But his doctor has told him the five-hour flight, plus hours of waiting in airports, is too strenuous for him now.
"I'm going to be 102 now. It's kind of hard to mess around," Conter said.
Instead, he plans to watch a video feed of this year's 81st anniversary observance from home. He's also recorded a message that will be played for those attending.
--GreGen
From the May 21, 2022, Reporter by Kimberly K. Fu.
A sliver of this famous warship arrived in Vacaville, California, on May 18 and soon will be exhibited at the Rowland Freedom Center in town.
Years ago, Paul Mirisch, the center's general manager, watched a documentary about the USS Arizona and learned that the battleship had been dismantled and most of it left in a heap at Hospital Point in Pearl Harbor. He later found out that the Navy allowed museums and veterans organizations to apply for pieces of it.
He sent in an application and hoped for the best. "It was a shot in the dark," Paul remembered. "We were pleasantly surprised."
They got a piece of the ship. Various documentation came with the weighty salvaged artifact. It is a square of metal burnished by heat, likely from the explosion that doomed the ship, featuring a small circular bump in the middle that probably is a nut that once held a bolt.
It will be placed in the WW II area of the museum which features a picture of the Arizona on fire, a Japanese flag found in the cockpit of a downed Japanese Zero, a Japanese headband and news coverage of the attack.
Ultimately, the Arizona piece will be placed in a glass box with a hole at the top to allow people to reach in and feel the metal.
--GreGen
As I said in the last post, I was very much surprised at how few battleships Japan had during the war.
The United Sates, on the other hand, had 24 (counting the USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma and USS Utah which were knocked out of the war on the first day for the country.)
Continuing with the Japanese battleships:
NAGATO-CLASS
NAGATO Both ships underwent significant modernization 1934-1936, rebuilding superstructure into the more familiar pagoda mast style. (I will also be writing about the Japanese pagoda masts this month.)
MITSU
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YAMATO-CLASS
YAMATO Five planned, one converted into aircraft carrier, two cancelled. The Yamato was sunk during a one-way trip to Okinawa during Operation Ten-Go. She never saw combat.
MUSASHI
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DESIGN 1-150
Popularly known as the "Super-Yamato class was a planned class of battleships. In keeping with the IJN's long-held doctrine of qualitative superiority, they were designed to be the most powerful battleships afloat. As part of this, the class would have had six 20.1-inch guns.
Design work on the A-150s began after the Yamato-class was mostly finished by early 1941, when the Japanese began focusing on aircraft carriers and other smaller warships in preparation for the coming conflict.
No A-150 was ever laid down and many of the designs of the class were destroyed near the end of the war.
--GreGen
From the USS Arizona Mall at the University of Arizona Face Book page by Bobbie Joe Buel.
Rosa Sowell Kennington and Van Arthur Kennington lost three sons in wars. Their oldest, child, Lloyd, was killed in France in 1918 during World War I.
Two of their youngest, Charles Cecil and Milton Homer were killed at the start of World War II, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. They were both aboard the battleship USS Arizona.
The morning after he received news that Charles and Milton were dead, their father told a newspaper reporter, "I would give all of my boys and I too would fight to pit down such sneaking and deadly enemies as the Japs, Hitler and Mussolini."
He had four more sons and at least one, Marvin, served on a Navy gun crew on a merchant ship.
The father, V.A. as he was known, was a framer and his wife, Rosa, a homemaker. They had fifteen children and resided in Humboldt, a town of about 5,000 in western Tennessee.
Charles, their third youngest, was born March 10, 1920, and enlisted in the Navy on December 5, 1939. Milton was born January 11, 1922, and enlisted in March 5, 1940. Both brothers were Seamen 1st Class on the USS Arizona when they were killed December 7, 1941.
--GreGen
From the January 11, 2022, USS Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona Face Book Page by Bobbie Joe Buel.
Reposted the profile of EDWIN CARRELL HAMILTON.
Edwin Carrell Hamilton was born Jan. 11, 1922. His mother, Ethel, was a homemaker and his father Carrell C., a railroad worker.
The 1930 census said the family lived in Pueblo, Colorado,, but by 1935, they had moved to Denver. That same census said Edwin was adopted. He was the Hamilton's only child.
Edwin graduated from East High, where the yearbook said he was in the class of 1941.
Mr. Hamilton enlisted in the Navy 27, 1941. He was a Seaman 1st Class on the USS Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
--GreGen
