Remembering Pearl Harbor:
The USS Arizona Memorial

(Hawaiian Service, Inc.) Today the battle-scarred, submerged remains of the battleship USS Arizona rest on the silt of Pearl Harbor, just as they settled on December 7, 1941. The ship was one of many casualties from the deadly attack by the Japanese on a quiet Sunday that President Franklin Roosevelt called "a date which will live in infamy." The Arizona's burning bridge and listing mast and superstructure were photographed in the aftermath of the Japanese attack, and news of her sinking was emblazoned on the front page of newspapers across the land. The photograph symbolized the destruction of the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and the start of a war that was to take many thousands of American lives. Indelibly impressed into the national memory, the image could be recalled by most Americans when they heard the battle cry, "Remember Pearl Harbor." More than a million people visit the USS Arizona Memorial each year. They file quietly through the building and toss flower wreaths and leis into the water. They watch the iridescent slick of oil that still leaks, a drop at a time, from ruptured bunkers after more than 50 years at the bottom of the sea, and they read the names of the dead carved in marble on the Memorial's walls.

TABLE OF CONTENTS About This Lesson Getting Started: Inquiry Question Setting the Stage: Historical Context Locating the Site: Maps 1. Hawaii and Japan 2. The Island of Oahu 3. Pearl Harbor Determining the Facts: Readings 1. The Attack on Pearl Harbor 2. The USS Arizona Memorial Determining the Facts: Charts 1. December 7, 1941, Losses 2. Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona, Dec. 7, 1941 Visual Evidence: Images 1. The USS Arizona setting out from New York, 1918 2. USS Arizona burns and sinks, Dec. 7, 1941 3. Aerial and interior views of the USS Arizona Memorial 4. Aerial view of Pearl Harbor today Putting It All Together: Activities 1. Pearl Harbor and the Casualties of War 2. Comparing Textbook Accounts 3. Survivors of War 4. Examining War Memorials Supplementary Resources

RELATED INFORMATION How to Use a TwHP Lesson Lessons on Related Topics TwHP Home National Register Home About the National Register How the National Register Helps Teachers Contact TwHP USS Arizona Memorial This lesson is based on the USS Arizona Memorial, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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