Age and Use Overtaking to Pearl Harbor Visitor Center

Age has become a big problem for those who survived the Pearl harbor attack back in 1941. Now, age and too much usage has become a problem at the visitor center, through which an annual 1.6 million people going out to the USS Arizona Memorial have to pass. The center was built on landfill that was once part of the harbor. That, and all those people (the place was built to handle 750,000 and that was exceeded in its first year of operation, 1980) have caused major problems.

Cracks are forming on the foundation pillars and it has settled 30 over the years.

However, a new $52 million museum is already planned, with groundbreaking scheduled for this Dec. 7th, the 66th anniversary of the attack. Fundraisers have gotten only a little more than half of the needed funds. Efforts at raising the rest is following a two-pronged attack: "trying to revive a WWII spirit of rallying around a common cause while stirring national emotion and nostalgia for a rapidly dying generation."

One school in Florida raised $13,000 in a Pennies for Pearl Harbor effort.

Every year, there are fewer and fewer Pearl Harbor survivors. Estimates put the number at around 5,000 now. These survivors are taking the effort to the people and speaking to raise more money.

I remember going to Pearl Harbor several years ago, when my mom was nice enough to take the family. No trip to Hawaii would be complete without a trip here. The lines were huge and winding way out from the visitors center, even an hour before it opened. Then, the center was very crowded, despite great efforts to control the crowd.

This is one of the three battles I find to be most interesting. The other two are the Alamo and Fort Fisher.

Information about donating can be found at www.pearlharbormemorial.com .

This would also be a great project for schools. You can get information for this at the same site.

A Very Worthy Project.  --RoadDog