BLUE HAWAII
– Postcard production and… the beginning of the Presley formula-
(part 9)
Such A Night
The first days of December 1941 turned out to be some of the most tragic in the history of the entire modern history of North America. It was then, on Sunday morning, December 7, at about eight o’clock local time, that over three hundred and fifty Japanese planes attacked (without a declaration of war) the American naval and air base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. At that time, the main US military outpost in the Pacific.
As a result of the intensive air raids, lasting over two hours, the American side suffered unimaginably severe losses. It is estimated that in the attacks of the Imperial Japanese Navy, as many as two and a half thousand Americans died (including two thousand three hundred and forty-five military personnel and sixty-eight civilians), and about four hundred aircraft were completely destroyed or damaged (some sources estimate that the Japanese fleet destroyed one hundred and eighty-eight American aircraft and damaged at least as many – one hundred and fifty-five), and about twenty floating units, including five ships, three cruisers, one destroyer and three battleships. Such as the USS Arizona, on which almost half of all victims of Japanese aggression lost their lives. When the bomb weighing over eight hundred kilograms fell on the ship, there were one thousand five hundred and eleven sailors on board. One thousand one hundred and seventy-seven of them died. “The sound of the final impact was so loud and unlike anything I had ever heard before ,” Louis Conter * , one of the few survivors of the attack on the USS Arizona, recalled in an interview of the moment of impact. “The bow of the ship, all twenty-four thousand tons, lifted up, thirty to forty feet out of the water. It lifted so high that when you looked down you could see what the ship looked like from underneath. In an instant the ship was engulfed in a gigantic fireball that seemed to engulf everything from the mast all the way to the front .”
The USS Arizona sank just nine minutes after the bomb was dropped (around 8:10 AM), becoming not only a painful symbol of those tragic December events but also the final resting place of the young soldiers who served on it. It is worth recalling that most of them (according to sources, over nine hundred bodies) were never recovered.
Over time, the attack on Pearl Harbor became the subject of many analyses and studies by numerous historians from around the world, who in their studies tried not only to reconstruct its course minute by minute, but also to understand and indicate the reasons why it was carried out at all. And so, most experts still consider the decision of the American government to issue a ban on the export of American crude oil to Japan as one of the most important and probable motives of this December aggression, which resulted in, among other things, the almost complete grounding of the Japanese navy (supplies from the USA accounted for 85% of all oil exports to Japan at that time).
In subsequent years, however, other, more sensational theories began to emerge, according to which both the then US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his administration were supposed to have known about the planned Japanese air raid. However, they were supposed to have failed to warn the command in Pearl Harbor, thus exposing thousands of American citizens to almost certain death, just to get a pretext for the US to join the two-year-old World War II (which most Americans were clearly opposed to). Which happened the very next day after the attack. On Monday, December 8, 1941, the United States officially declared war on Japan and thus joined the global conflict.
However, regardless of the piles of publications and opinions contained in them, and the increasingly conspiratorial theories about what and why really happened on December 7, 1941, one fact remained unchanged. Thousands of young, innocent people died in Pearl Harbor, and with them their plans, dreams… their entire future were buried forever. All that could be done for them was to honor their memory with dignity.
For this reason, as early as 1943, during World War II, the first plans to erect a monument began to emerge, which would initially commemorate all those killed during Japanese air raids. The initiator of the entire undertaking was Robert Ripley (LeRoy Robert Ripley, because that was his real name), an American entrepreneur, caricaturist and creator of several popular radio and television programs. Including the NBC radio series “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!”, broadcast since 1930.
It was Ripley who, just a year after the tragic events in Hawaii, visited Pearl Harbor and six years later, in 1948, broadcast his radio show from this location. Shortly after its broadcast, the journalist also contacted the US Navy Department and presented it with plans to erect a monument commemorating the victims of the attacks.
His idea, however, did not receive the approval of the department’s authorities due to the excessively high costs of execution. However, a declaration was made that the US Navy would make every effort to erect the monument. In 1949, a special commission was even established for this purpose – the Pacific War Commission, which aimed to bring about the construction of the obelisk.
The first, provisional monument – ??a three-meter basalt boulder with a commemorative plaque attached to it, which was placed above the control room of the sunken USS Arizona, was not erected until 1955. Earlier attempts, undertaken by Admiral Arthur W. Radford ** , among others, almost always ended in failure. Applications for financing the monument were always rejected for the same reason – financial constraints.
The breakthrough came in 1958, when an executive order signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the construction of a national monument in Pearl Harbor. The problem, however, was that its construction, the cost of which was estimated at half a million dollars, was to be covered entirely by private funds. However, the act assumed that the Navy authorities could apply for various types of grants and donations.
The first funds began to flow in after the American reality show “This Is Your Life” aired, starring, among others, a survivor of the attack, Officer Samuel G. Fuqua. The response to his tearful appeal was so overwhelming that ninety-five thousand dollars were transferred to the Arizona Memorial Commission foundation.
President Eisenhower also promised additional funds, despite the previous provisions in the act (the American government allocated a total of two hundred thousand dollars for the implementation of the project).
Unfortunately, in the late 1950s, the initial enthusiasm for building the monument suddenly began to fade, and the foundation and U.S. Navy authorities began to struggle with increasing problems in finding the missing and, importantly, still large sum of money.
It was George Chaplin, then editor-in-chief of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, who extended a helping hand to the organizers, who in an open letter to friendly journalists and editors from the Hawaiian Islands asked for the story of the famous battleship USS Arizona and the attempts made to commemorate the soldiers who died on it to be made public. As luck would have it, one of these articles was also reprinted by The Los Angeles Examiner.
On December 4, 1960, while Elvis was still working on the film Wild In The Country, the article in a major Los Angeles daily found its way into the hands of Colonel Parker.
Elvis’ manager did not hesitate for a moment and that same day presented the singer with his idea of ??organizing a benefit concert, the proceeds of which could significantly increase the foundation’s account. When he agreed, Parker contacted editor Chaplin and briefly informed him: ” I know a young man whose support could be of great help to you .”
At a press conference on January 11, 1961, Parker officially informed the public that Elvis Presley, who himself had only a few months previously completed his military service, would personally commit himself to helping raise the missing funds to build a memorial to all the victims of the Japanese air raids at Pearl Harbor.
Reporters gathered at the Hawaiian Village Hotel were told that the benefit show would be held on March 26, 1961 (later changed to March 25) at Honolulu’s Bloch Arena. ” You know, Elvis is twenty-six now ,” Parker told reporters. ” And that’s about the average age of the guys who died on Arizona. I think what he’s doing is right .”
The next day his words were quoted in the largest American newspapers and the subject of the Pearl Harbor monument was back on the front pages of newspapers. Gene Shank in his article “Elvis To Star In ‘Arizona’ Found Show” not only recalled Parker’s declaration, who during the conference assured that ” every cent collected must go to the foundation account ” but also assured that ” Elvis, who would normally collect $25,000 for such an appearance, will not receive one cent for his evening show. ‘There is no excuse for Presley to leave the Islands without collecting $50,000,’ Parker said “.
In turn, Don Walker added in the text “Elvis Remembers Pearl Harbor” that ” All proceeds from the concert will be donated to the foundation. Presley himself intends to buy the first ticket, and its cost will be one hundred dollars. Everyone will pay – the highest-ranking naval officers, members of the commission and even Colonel Parker – Presley’s manager, who organized the event. And although the prices of tickets will be adjusted to the level of wealth of the individual, those who bought seats in the front rows will also pay one hundred dollars. Another performance will be organized if the demand for it is large enough, Colonel Parker explained . “
Ticket sales officially started on Monday, March 13, 1961.
- Louis Conter (known as Lou Conter) was an American naval officer. He died at the age of 102, on April 1, 2024. He was the last living survivor of the crew of the USS Arizona
- In 1950, five years before the first permanent monument was erected, Arthur W. Radford ordered a flagpole to be attached to the mainmast of the USS Arizona and began a tradition of raising and lowering the national flag on it that lasted for several years.
Elvis Presley – Blue Hawaii… Article written and provided by Mariusz Ogieglo (EP Promised Land) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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