pearl harbor day

The USS Arizona serves as a shrine to that "date which will live in infamy," a reminder that 67 years ago today, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,000 servicemen -- about half of whom served aboard the famous ship.

Two large chunks of rusted metal cut from the Arizona are now part of a display at the Delaware Military Academy near Newport, a permanent tribute to the Pearl Harbor tragedy that was constructed just in time to recognize the anniversary.

"I think it's important that kids see historic artifacts, especially something that is so iconic to Navy history," said Mark Giansanti, a military history instructor at the academy, a Navy Junior ROTC high school. "It's important that they see what happened and where it is, that history is not just in a book."

Within the display case, a certificate from the U.S. Navy authenticates the steel pieces from the ship. The Navy presented the artifacts to the charter school at the end of the last school year. Veteran halls, military installations and other sites also received jutting pieces that were cut away from the Arizona, which is now a museum in Hawaii, just off Ford Island, Giansanti said.

The display at the charter school features enlarged photos of the Arizona, showing the thick, black smoke that billowed from the ship shortly after it was hit. Next to the pictures, a bold headline from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin shouts: "War! Oahu Bombed By Japanese Planes."

"There's a thousand men bound on this ship, entombed on it," said Giansanti, as he nodded toward the display. "There is still oil leaking from it from 1941 when it was sunk."

"If you stand there, you can see the little reflections, you can see these oil drops every once in a while," said Commander Bruce Shumway, an academy administrator who visited the ship-museum several years ago.

Shumway's voice choked up as he described how some of the survivors who served aboard the Arizona have requested to have their ashes placed in an urn so divers can place it on board the submerged vessel.

"It's survivor's guilt -- but by some fluke, I should be there -- and that's where they want to return," Giansanti said.

Shumway, who served in the Navy for 20 years before retiring as a commander in 1994, also has another connection to Pearl Harbor.

"My father was on a ship out of Pearl Harbor, and he just happened to be out to sea that day," he said. "My mom was on the other side of the island. Otherwise, I might not be here."

His father was an ensign on the USS Pensacola and his mom worked for the Red Cross on the island of Oahu, said Shumway, who oversees the naval science instructors at the academy.

Some Delawareans distinguished themselves at Pearl Harbor, Giansanti said, including Lt. George Welch, an Army pilot who took off shortly after the attack and shot down four Japanese aircraft.