Piece of USS Arizona headed to Colorado Springs Airport
A 4-foot tall, L-shaped piece of the USS Arizona’s superstructure will be displayed at the Colorado Springs Airport to honor local Pearl Harbor survivor Don Stratton.
The location was selected by the Pikes Peak Heroes Legacy Committee this week.
“The piece of the Arizona will be placed in the concourse in a cased environment,” said Bob Lally, chairman of the Legacy Committee and Military Affairs Council in Colorado Springs.
Memorial Park and the future U.S. Olympic Museum also were considered, but the committee settled on the airport due to the 1.7 million travelers annually that would see the display, Lally said.
The USS Arizona was among the Navy ships sunk in the surprise attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on the Pacific Fleet at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II.
Stratton, 95, a seaman first class serving on the Arizona the day of the attack, suffered horrific burns when a bomb pierced the ship’s deck and is believed to have detonated a forward magazine. Nearly 1,200 sailors went down with the Arizona, and more than 2,400 died in the attack.
Stratton and five other badly injured shipmates narrowly escaped the doomed Arizona with the help of Joseph George, who threw them a line from a ship moored next to the Arizona.
The committee hopes to announce more details – the style of display and accompanying artifacts – at a June 8 ceremony unveiling a new sign at the Donald Stratton Bridge on Fillmore Street over Interstate 25, Lally said.
El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf received the piece of the USS Arizona on March 22, intending it as a tribute to Stratton, one of four remaining Pearl Harbor survivors.
Randy Stratton said his father has three pieces of the ship in his home – one from the same structure, a part of the ship’s deck and a gun turret.
Another fragment of the ship is on display, along with his father’s old uniform, at the National Museum of World War II Aviation, Randy Stratton said.
VanderWerf formed the Pikes Peak Heroes Legacy Committee, made up mostly of Navy veterans, to find a place to showcase the new relic and raise money to build the exhibit.
