ALONG THE WAY

USS Arizona Mourns Her Dead 65 Years Later Black Tears Still Seep

ON EACH DECEMBER 7, the name “Arizona” assumes a special significance. On this day, the word “Arizona” doesn't conjure the Grand Canyon or Apaches or roadrunners or Wyatt Earp, but rather Hawaii and a doomed battleship commissioned in 1916, the same year as one of history's great naval battles and four years after Arizona became a state. The USS Arizona dropped anchor at Pearl Harbor in July 1941 and is still there today, but at the bottom of the harbor in shallow water so close to the surface that from above it can be clearly seen. It has been said that it cries black tears; every day approximately a quart of oil bubbles up to the surface from somewhere inside the battleship, which had been refueled shortly before being sunk. Most people don't notice the iridescent oil rings, which are inconspicuous and dissipate quickly. The image of black tears is especially appropriate because most of the 1,177 crewmembers who died when the ship was sunk are still onboard.

The Arizona was built in the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, not far from the site where the World Trade Center would later be built. I was looking forward to seeing the Arizona monument in the fall of 2001, but it was not to be because FedEx delivered the ticket for my trip to Hawaii on September 10. I didn't make it to Hawaii. I spent the next few days watching the news about the World Trade Center on TV. The pictures of the buildings coming down are filed in my memory, alongside other newsreel pictures of great warships foundering in Pearl Harbor, the air thick with black smoke.

I've seen Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor, the two big Pearl Harbor movies, on TV. A Sony television set. History is a tricky chameleon. When I was a boy, the media was universally geared toward conditioning me to hate the Japanese.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" was the title of the most popular war song in the country in 1942, and the phrase was a rallying cry, a call to arms against an enemy generally considered to be subhuman.

Today one is expected to remember Pearl Harbor differently, without hatred for the country that launched the attack. Our allies and enemies change continuously like the players in an endless somber game.

The USS Arizona constitutes the most salient memory of Pearl Harbor. It is still visible and so unavoidable. A film and audio narration aboard a boat that ferries tourists to the Arizona describes the events leading to the attack, and the narration ends with these words, “How shall we remember them, those who died? Mourn the dead. Remember the battle. Understand the tragedy. Honor the memory.” The Arizona was in the movies long before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the location for a 1934 movie titled Here Comes the Navy with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Their love interest in the movie was Gloria Stuart, who 63 years later would play a part in a movie titled Titanic about the sinking of a grand cruise ship in the year 1912, just a few weeks after Arizona joined the union.

In 1924, a young woman named Madeline Blair stowed away on the Arizona on its voyage from New York to San Pedro, her destination being Hollywood.

Her discovery resulted in prison sentences for 23 sailors convicted of helping her in exchange for favors.

When the Arizona was being built, it was expected to be called the USS North Carolina, after the home state of the secretary of the Navy. But Arizona ended up getting the honors. Esther Ross, the daughter of prominent Prescott pioneer W.W. Ross, christened the ship, and in 1917 there was a statewide fund-raising campaign to pay for a silver service to present to the Arizona.

The silver service is still aboard the Arizona. Nobody knows what became of Madeline Blair, who never made it to Hollywood (she was returned to New York). But Gloria Stuart, who walked the deck of the Arizona in real life 70 years ago, is still making movies.

The oil leaking out of the Arizona is expected to do so until after the last Pearl Harbor survivor dies.

Looking for That Special Holiday Gift With a Southwestern Flair?

Arizona Highways offers a fabulous array of Southwestern gifts ranging from apparel, jewelry, home decor, specialty foods and much, much more. Shop online at shoparizonahighways.com or call our toll free number 1-800-543-5432 and Save 25% off your first purchase (use promo code 9301-MKT6). You can also stop by our retail outlet in Phoenix. Offer expires December 31, 2006. 25% discount applied automatically during checkout, shipping and handling not included. Offer applies to merchandise total only. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Applies to in-stock items only.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS