USS Arizona artifact coming to Fort Miles

Another piece of World War II history is destined for Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen State Park.

Fort Miles Historical Association volunteers are finalizing shipping details to obtain an 800-pound artifact from the USS Arizona, which was sunk during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 sailors and Marines.

The attack signaled the start of the war in the Pacific for the United States.

According to Gary Wray, association president, the group has been working on the project for two years. “We'll now have bookends from the start and end of World War II at our museum,” he said.

Fort Miles already has a gun barrel on display from the USS Missouri, where on Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese signed documents of surrender to end the war in the Pacific.

Wray said the only other place where that occurs is at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, the resting place of the Arizona and the location of the restored Missouri.

Wray said the 10-foot-long artifact has been crated in Hawaii and is ready to be shipped free by FedEx to Philadelphia in about two weeks. On the day when the artifact is trucked to Fort Miles, an American Legion Honor Guard will provide escort. Wray said a bus of volunteers will also accompany the artifact and plans include a stop at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Veterans Memorial Park for a ceremony, followed by a loop around Legislative Hall in Dover and The Circle in Georgetown before heading to Lewes.

Board member Cliff Geisler has helped facilitate the project and the shipping process.

The artifact, donated by the U.S. Navy, will be encased in its own display with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled on the Great Dune Overlook in early June, Wray said.