Life Among the Saguaros: 2013

December 7, 2013, was a very proud day for the State of Arizona as the dedication ceremony for the new World War II Memorial, with the gun barrels from the USS Arizona and the USS Missouri as the centerpiece, took place. The gun barrels serve as "two visible bookends" to World War II as the conflict began for the United States when Pearl Harbor was attacked and the USS Arizona sunk and ended for the United States when the treaty between the United States and Japan was signed on board the USS Missouri. This project has been three years in the making, and not one dime of taxpayer money was used. There are only nine survivors left, and three of them were in attendance at the dedication.

A few facts about the memorial that I have taken from the program:

From the center flagpole east of the anchor, looking west to the first marker (BB-39) is 608 feet. It represents the length of the USS Arizona from bow to stern.

From the center flagpole east of the anchor, looking west to the second marker (BB-63) is 887 feet 3 inches. It represents the length of the USS Missouri from bow to stern.

The nine sets of blue steel pillars represent the nine minutes it took for the USS Arizona to sink after being hit by bombs from Japanese aircraft.

The day began at Phoenix City Hall and the "Pearl Harbor Day Walk: Parade of Patriots." Inside City Hall, we were given a pin and the name of a veteran who had died in the attack and for whose memory we would be walking. I was walking for Nicholas Runiak, who was from New Jersey. We walked about a mile from Phoenix City Hall to Wesley Bolin Plaza. This is an annual event that honors the memory of all those who died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This year, all WWII veterans were honored.

The dedication for the new memorial was scheduled to begin at around 9:45 so I started walking toward Wesley Bolin Plaza at around 9:30. This picture was taken while I was on Washington Street looking back at where the parade started.

I took this picture as I was approaching Wesley Bolin Plaza. The large American flag is being held up by a large crane.

This is my first look at the gun barrel from the USS Missouri.

A lot of people came out for the event, including a large number of veterans.

This is the gun barrel from the USS Arizona. It is barrel #41L3, and was not on the ship at the time of the sinking. It had been relined before being placed on the USS Nevada. It participated in D-Day and Operation Dragoon. A man by the name of John Thomas learned the Navy had one remaining gun barrel from the battleship Arizona located in a storage yard in northern Virginia. When Mr. Bennett learned of this, he contacted the Navy. He spoke with the "Director of Inactive Ships" (yes, there is such a title!), Robert Staton, who was in attendance at the dedication, about either loaning or giving the gun barrel to the State of Arizona. Mr. Staton was reluctant to do so because it was the one remaining gun barrel from the USS Arizona. He did, however, offer one from the USS Missouri as the Navy was in possession of seven of them. Mr. Bennett reminded him that he was calling from Arizona (haha) and the thought then occurred to him to ask for both barrels. He suggested a memorial where the gun barrels would serve as "the bookends of the war." Mr. Staton replied that he liked big thinking and that he could get behind a project like that. In his key note speech Mr. Bennett, with all due respect to the federal government, joked about why there is a seventeen trillion dollar national debt - if you asked for one of something, the answer is "no." But if you ask for two they can do that. This got a good laugh from the crowd.

This is the gun barrel from the USS Missouri and was on the ship when attacked. It is barrel #387 and saw service at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. There was a veteran who attended the dedication who was not only on the USS Missouri when the treaty was signed on September 2, 1945, but who had actually shot the very gun barrel, a thousand times, that was now on display as part of Arizona's World War II Memorial. (It looks as if the two people in red tops are posing for the picture, but I really have no idea who they are!)

During the dedication, there were a number of people walking around by the anchor and the new memorial. I took this picture of the 108th Army Band from behind the podium by the new memorial.

Roses that were left under the gun barrel from the USS Missouri.

I don't know the correct terminology, but this is a picture of the "back" of the gun barrel from the USS Arizona.

This is a picture of the "back" of the gun barrel from the USS Missouri.

As part of the dedication, a B-17 performed a flyover over the crowd. Secretary of State Ken Bennett's introduction was interrupted by its arrival - it's a bit difficult to see, but here it comes! Before he began his remarks, Mr. Bennett waited for the B-17 to complete its second flyover. The Commemorative Air Force Base from Mesa, Arizona provided the flyover.

This is a picture I took of the B-17 after it had flown over the cheering and clapping crowd and was turning to come around for another pass. There was another, smaller plane that was accompanying it but I'm not sure what kind it was and I wasn't able to get it in the picture.

This is the same picture as above.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett delivering the Key Note Address. In his Keynote Address, Secretary of State Ken Bennett mentioned "The Lone Marine - Staff Sgt. Tim Chambers (Ret.)" who was here today to salute all of our veterans. Quoting Mr. Bennett: "One of Tim's goals is to go around the country and give a proper welcome home to our Vietnam veterans. For all of you Vietnam veterans here today who were not properly welcomed home decades ago - welcome home."

They are a little tough to see in this picture (okay, darn near impossible!), but this is a picture of the release of the white doves. They were so beautiful as they flew around.

This is the same picture as above zoomed in a little.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett greeting attendees of the dedication.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett with the POW/KIA/MIA Honor Guard.

There were a number of wreaths placed around the anchor from the USS Arizona.

This wreath was also placed in the area around the anchor. The sign on the bottom reads "The Ship that became a Shrine."

This is the anchor from the USS Arizona.

Someone had placed a single red rose at the base of the anchor.

A 21-gun salute was performed by the Firing Party from the American Legion Post 29 as part of the dedication ceremony.

More roses - these were placed under the gun barrel of the USS Arizona.

This is the middle portion of the memorial. They are steel pillars in the shape of a battleship hull and honor the 1,902 Arizona men and women from various branches of the military who died in World War II.

This is a close up of the name tags on the middle portion of the memorial. They are free hanging and are designed to look like water rippling when the breeze is gently blowing. So beautiful.

Information on the USS Arizona.

I took this picture after the crowd had (obviously!) left the area in front of the podium. From this angle, one can see just how big/long the gun barrels are.

I'm not sure who sponsors this impressive model of the USS Arizona, but it was sitting on a fishing boat in one of the parking lots at Wesley Bolin Plaza.

This is the other side of the model.

This is a picture of the front pages of two newspapers. On the left is the Honolulu Star-Bulletin dated Sunday, December 7, 1941, and on the right is the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph dated Wednesday, August 15, 1945.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. What caught my eye about this display was the story on the U.S. Cruiser, the USS Indianapolis, that was sunk after being hit by a Japanese torpedo. I read a book about this a number of years ago and what the men on that ship went through was both heartbreaking and horrifying.

This is a picture of the same article.

This is another shot of the model of the USS Arizona.

This is the "back" of the World War II Memorial looking toward Phoenix.

The Enduring Freedom Memorial.

I'm very late posting this but have been busy since Halloween. Halloween in my neighborhood is so much fun. By the time October 31st rolls around we're finally out of the triple digits so everyone sits outside in their driveways to hand out candy and enjoy the relatively cool weather. Everyone is so busy these days so it's a nice chance to catch up with some of the neighbors I don't get a chance to talk to often. This year, I had probably around 125 -150 trick or treaters in all. I handed out all 80 of the goody bags I had made up and then there were plenty of kids who were either too old or too young to be "sorted" so I had plenty of candy on hand for them as well. Below are some pictures of Halloween decorations in the neighborhood. Some I took while taking a walk the night before and some I took on Halloween in between groups of kids and when I went for a walk around the neighborhood after things slowed down.

This is actually a large bush on which they arranged lights to look like a huge pumpkin.

This is the same house. This is a really weird dog house type of thing with a fence around it.

This is also the same house as the two pictures above. They really have some different types of decorations in their yard.

I think this is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in someone's yard. Sometimes these "creepy" decorations come off as cheesy, but there's something about this that is just disturbing. lol! I was talking to my neighbor in whose yard it's in and I was telling him how disturbing I found it and he said it even creeped him out and he made it!

This is a view looking down the street.

These are the pumpkins I had on my porch this year. The one on the left is a real one that I carved, and the one on the right is a ceramic pumpkin.

This is a picture of a wooden cross that's in the same neighbor's yard as that very disturbing decoration pictured above. They also had a really rickety fence put up.

Also in the same yard as the creepy decoration.

Another shot of the creepiest decoration I've ever seen.

This guy goes overboard with the decorations every year and they usually have a haunted house as well but he didn't this year (something having to do with football). You should see his house at Christmas!

Buh-bye triple digits! People outside everywhere.

This thing startled the heck out of me. I was standing in front of it not knowing that it is motion activated. I suddenly felt (and heard!) a blast of air coming from that hole in its mouth.