A Piece Of The USS Arizona Arrives In Delaware

LEWES, Del - An artifact from the battleship

has made its long journey to the Delaware coast.  The

Museum received the piece of the ship that was sunk during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It is the attack the initiated the United States entry into World War II.  The museum has worked for over two years with the USS Arizona Relics Program to bring the piece to Fort Miles. With the artifact on its property, Fort Miles is now the only site east of the Mississippi and the third overall other than Pearl Harbor and Arizona to have pieces from the beginning and ending of the war, the other from the USS Missouri.  "To seek pieces from those two (battleships) was quite an accomplishment," said President of the Fort Miles Historical Association Gary Wray. "To have them as two bookends for our museum was a real get for our group." The Museum selected the largest available relic in anticipation of its possible permanent display next to the

gun barrel located outside of the Fort Miles Museum entrance. The piece is 10 feet long, 3 feet wide, and weighs approximately 650 pounds. It is believed to have come from a back stern platform of the Arizona. The exhibit plans to combine the Pacific theater and what was taking place during the war in Delaware. "It will be a place where folks from all over Delaware and the east coast can come and get a little bit of history of how the state functioned at that time," Fort Miles Historical Association Board Member Mike Dunkes said. The exhibit “ RELICS OF THE USS ARIZONA – INTERPRETING PEARL HARBOR BEYOND THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS” is planned to open this Summer season.