Thursday, December 10, 2009

A life ring, a teapot, a boatswain's pipe, a bugle, and a bottle of champagne . . . Remembering Pearl Harbor - Part II

To read part 1, click on the "USS Arizona" tag on the right of the page.

Here are some photos of some of the items in the State Capital Museum. (Click the photos to see the items in greater detail.)









Monday, December 7, 2009

Remembering Pearl Harbor - Part I

Today, December 7, 2009, marks the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was downtown a little while back and had some time, so I stopped into the Arizona State Capital Museum where there is located a piece of the USS Arizona that was removed from the superstructure in 1942 and stored at Waipio Point, Oahu until 1995 when it was transferred to Arizona by the U.S. Navy.

The museum also houses a life ring, teapot, a boatswain’s pipe, and a bugle owned by Maurice Vincent, who played with the USS Arizona band in the late 1930s, among other items. Also included in the museum’s collection are a number of beautiful silver, copper, and silver and copper serving sets which were not on the ship at the time of the attack. They are some of the most beautiful pieces I’ve seen.

Outside, located in the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, is an anchor from the USS Arizona as well as a signal mast. I’d seen those before as I’ve been to the plaza for a number of events, but hadn’t known about the piece of the superstructure inside.

Here are some photos of the piece of the superstructure. I'll be posting photos of some of the other things I saw in upcoming posts.