By: JOHN MCCRACKEN
Harold Staff Writer
After 64 years, only historians, family members and a few remaining survivors mark the day a strike force of 420 Japanese fighters, bomnbers and torpedo planes rained death and destruction on the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,390 servicemen and women.
On duty that morning, aboard the ill-fated battleship, Arizona, was a young seaman from Sapulpa, Albert Lewis Ward.
Upon the death of his mother, Ward became an orphan at the age of five, and went to live with relations in Illinois.
When he was 10, he was sent to live with his uncle Joe Gault in Sapulpa.
He became a member of the Nazarene Church in Sapulpa.
As he grew, Ward found time to explore his passions for drawing and painting.
He attended Sapulpa High School, but left to join the U.S. Navy.
"Becoming a member of the United States Navy was a long time dream for Ward," said Deloma Jones, Ward's cousin.
Dec. 7 began as a quiet Sunday morning, and young Ward had a lot on his mind.
His 21st birthday was a few days away, and his Christmas shopping days were fast running out.
At 7:55 a.m., sirens wailed, orders were barked and men ran to general quarters.
Early in the battle, a Japanese dive bomber hit his mark on the Arizona just in front of the main turret. The charge penetrated the forecastle armor and detonated in the forward ammunition magazine.
The explosion blew out the sides of the mighty ship, and caused the command tower to collapse into the void. The ship sank in seconds, with more than 1,100 crewmen, including Ward.
Today, Ward, the first Sapulpan to die in World War II, is immoratalized by both the National Memorial at Pearl Harbor, and a local stretch of road located north of town, along side the Creek Turnpike.
Albert Lewis Ward Road runs from Hickory Hill Road to Hilton Road for motorists wanting to navigate the area without getting on the turnpike.
The National Memorial for Ward and his shipmates rests across the Battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
It was built in 1961 as an open-air shrine to the sacrifices of those lost that day, the day that would "live in infamy."
But infamy is in trouble.
The shoreside visitors center that launches the tours to the monument is sinking at the rate of an inch a year.
The facility is 25 years old and worn out.
Built to handle 2,000 guests a day, the visitor center and museum built to teach and guide people through the battle of Pearl Harbor handles 4,000 people every day, twice the amount it was designed to handle.
"The building has been raised many times to compensate for the sinking, but the practice has become unsafe to continue," said Kendall McCreary, education specialist at the Arizona Memorial.
So a national fund raiser was kicked off at the center Tuesday afternoon. It's called the Pennies for Pearl Harbor fund.
The goal is to raise $35 million to build a new visitor center and museum on the site.
Today, Freedom Elementary School will kick off the local fund raiser by collecting change through the students in an effort to remember the sailor who perished 64 years ago, specifically a local boy named Ward.
In his name, a check will be donated to the Arizona Memorial in January.
Those wishing to donate should contact Kathy Adams, a teacher at Freedom, at (918) 227-7838.
John McCracken 224-5185 Ext. 204
[email protected]
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