JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM USS Oklahoma survivor Paul Goodyear, right, saluted after raising the flag yesterday during dedication ceremonies for the USS Oklahoma Memorial at Ford Island. The memorial, designed by architect Don Beck, has 429 marble pillars, each bearing the name of one of the 429 who perished aboard the ship when it was hit by Japanese torpedoes the fateful morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

Oklahoma gets memorial

USS Oklahoma survivor George A. Smith did not recognize yesterday any of the names etched into white marble columns that stand in tribute at Ford Island to those killed aboard the battleship on Dec. 7, 1941.

At 17 and having joined the Navy only two months before the Pearl Harbor attack, there was no way he could get to know all his shipmates.

He sat down, sighed and looked back at the columns. At least now, he said, generations after him will remember their names.

Smith was among 20 survivors who attended the dedication ceremony for a long-awaited monument to the USS Oklahoma, which capsized 66 years ago after being hit with at least nine Japanese torpedoes.

Only 32 men were rescued from the ship that day. The rest -- 429 -- were lost when the battleship overturned and sank, trapping dozens within her hull. Of the dead, only 35 have been positively identified, while 13 remain unaccounted for.

The monument consists of 429 white marble columns in a V formation, fronted by black granite. Both the columns and the granite have the names of the fallen.

Oklahoma architect Don Beck said he struggled to come up with a design that would let visitors feel they were standing alongside the fallen.

Years ago he stood at the pier where the battleship was moored and had sunk, looking for inspiration. Just then, he saw a ship come into the port, with hundreds of sailors in their dress whites saluting on the deck.

He said he asked a Navy sailor what they were doing. The sailors were "manning the rails," a method of rendering honors of naval vessels. Beck said he fell in love with the white of the sailors and the gray ship.

"The contrast was drop-dead breathtaking," he said. "I was proud to watch them go by. I didn't realize it at the time, but there went the design of the memorial."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Sterling Kirby walked yesterday among the marble pillars bearing the names of the 429 who died aboard the USS Oklahoma.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM USS Oklahoma survivor Paul Goodyear, center, saluted the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" yesterday during dedication ceremonies for the USS Oklahoma Memorial at Ford Island.

On Dec. 7, 1941, he had just finished his 4-8 a.m. watch on the starboard machine gun 10 minutes early. He started heading to shore for food when the call for all hands to man battle stations came on.

"We thought, 'Oh great we're having drills now,'" he said. "So we just took our time until the guy over the loudspeaker went, 'This is no (expletive)! Move it!'"

Because he was so new, Smith did not know how to fire the guns. Minutes after he reached the deck to try and fire, the ship began to capsize, and that was when he went overboard.

He swam ashore to Ford Island, where the monument stands today.

Smith said the monument was a long time coming.

Survivors and family members said they finally have a place to pay their respects, as opposed to the graves marked "Unknown" at Punchbowl National Cemetery.

Edward Vezey, 86, of Center, Colo., said the survivors fought for years to have a memorial for the USS Oklahoma, which was the first to sink and which had the second most casualties that day, after the USS Arizona.

Francis Flaherty, who died aboard the Oklahoma, was among 15 who earned Medals of Honor that day. To Vezey, Flaherty was always just "Frank."

"I didn't even know his name was Francis until I saw his name on the statue," Vezey said.

Although most of yesterday felt like an upbeat, triumphant day for Vezey, he said he could not help but cry standing next to Flaherty's column.

"If I could do it without tears, I would need a heart transplant," Vezey said, "because it's a matter of the heart."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Retired Navy Seaman 2nd Class George A. Smith showed to his daughter, Margaret Mason, a commemorative hat he received along with fellow USS Oklahoma survivors.

U.S. NAVY The USS Oklahoma is capsized at right as the USS West Virginia, torpedoed and bombed by the Japanese, begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, center. The USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor in this Dec. 7, 1941, photo.