Whatever Happened...

An update on past news

Wednesday, September 11, 1996

ANSWER: The National Park Service still wants to bring the sub to Pearl Harbor.

"We're still working in that direction," said Randy Wester, chief ranger at the Arizona Memorial. "The aim is to have it in an expanded museum at the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center."

The Navy will make the final decision, Wester said.

The National Park Service wanted the two-man submarine here last year for the 50th anniversary of V-J Day. But the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas, birthplace of World War II Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Chester Nimitz, wanted to display it the same day.

The sub drifted to the eastern shore of Oahu after the Pearl Harbor attack and beached on a reef off Waimanalo. One of the two men aboard, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, made it ashore. He became U.S. Prisoner of War No. 1 and lived to become a Toyota manager in Brazil.

The submarine was taken to the U.S. mainland, where it became an attraction at War Bond rallies. It then went on display at Key West, Fla. In 1990, the base there closed, and the Navy loaned it to the Nimitz Foundation. It's still at the Nimitz Museum in Texas.