USS Oklahoma memorial will honor 429 who died

After attention is turned away from commemorations on the sunken battleship USS Arizona this morning, ground will be broken for a new memorial for a lost ship at Pearl Harbor.

The USS Oklahoma was moored outboard of the USS Maryland on Battleship Row next to Ford Island on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. An older ship with thin armor plating, Oklahoma was struck by at least nine torpedoes, ripping out her entire port side. The battleship overturned, killing hundreds of sailors and trapping dozens more within her hull.

"It's one of the great tragedies at Pearl Harbor, and the sight of the overturned ship is a haunting image," said Ernie Arroyo, president of Pearl Harbor History Associates. "It's a ship that never fired a shot in anger, and yet men died like all sailors do, fighting to the last for their country. I think it's very appropriate to erect a memorial."

Arroyo pointed out that the 429 sailors, officers and Marines killed represented the second-largest loss of life aboard a Pearl Harbor ship. The men who were trapped aboard also became part of the attack's legend. A frantic rescue operation by Navy Yard workers managed to save some, but it was discovered later that some sailors had lived as long as three weeks trapped in the darkness. The ship had gone down in less than 20 minutes.

John and Alfred Grandpre were two brothers stationed on Oklahoma. John Grandpre managed to swim for safety, while Alfred died. "I knew John well," said Arroyo. "He always wondered how his brother died."

The drive to create a memorial for the battleship is credited to Edmond, Okla., resident and military artist Kevin King, who, on a visit to Pearl Harbor, wanted to show his 5-year-old son where the ship had been berthed. He was annoyed to find that no marker existed. He also discovered that the remains of Oklahoma sailors interred at Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery weren't marked by ship, and were instead in mass graves marked UNKNOWN.

Scheduled guests at today's groundbreaking include USS Oklahoma survivor Paul Goodyear, family members of sailors on the battleship and Oklahoma governor Brad Henry. Funds for the $750,000 memorial were largely raised in Oklahoma.

The memorial features banked ranks of golden eagles on poles, one for each serviceman killed on the ship. The poles are arranged in a nestled V-formation, resembling the service rank on a sailor's sleeve. It was designed by Oklahoma architect Don Beck.

The site is next to the modern pier that supports museum ship USS Missouri.

Donald Goldstein, author of several books on Pearl Harbor including "At Dawn We Slept," thinks it would be appropriate for all states that had named ships at Pearl Harbor to erect memorials. "Like the battleground at Gettysburg, with dozens of memorials. Each state should pay for it," Goldstein said, adding that, as a Pittsburgh history professor, he'd be happy to help kick off a drive for a USS Pennsylvania plaque.

"Your problem, as always at Pearl Harbor, is how does the average person get to it?" said Goldstein.

J. Michael Wenger, author of "The Way It Was: Pearl Harbor," noted that markers "of a uniform design" for the major ships at the harbor would be fitting, and also that Oklahoma's memorial was "overdue. Apart from Arizona, Oklahoma had the most casualties. They also suffered more."

"It's long overdue," agreed naval historian Paul Stilwell, whose works on the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona are considered definitive histories. "For a battleship, she had a peaceful career. She came in on the tail end of World War I, spent the '20s and '30s as a training ship and became famous as the ship that evacuated American citizens from Spain during the civil war there.

"Oklahoma was one of the three large ships not sent back into service after the attack, including Utah and Arizona, and the others have memorials because they're still in the harbor."

Oklahoma was righted in a massive salvage operation in 1943 but was determined to be too damaged for repair. While the battleship was being towed to the West Coast for salvage, she took on water and suddenly sank, almost dragging the tugboat down with her.