Original subtitles

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>> Even now,

you sense them here,

resting at the bottom

of Pearl Harbor

on the battleship

U.S.S. Arizona.

Over 900 crewmen entombed

for eternity

below her shattered decks.

♪

Their once personal possessions

come into view in the warm,

silty, green Pacific water.

♪

Nearby, fuel oil

still rises to the surface

every four minutes

from Arizona's sunken hull,

one drop at a time.

one drop at a time.

Machinist's Mate

Ardenne Allen Woodward was

stationed on the U.S.S. Arizona.

"Bill," as he was better known

to his crewmates,

was worried about what lay ahead

in the Pacific in late 1941,

concerns he shared frequently

with his wife, Virginia,

and new daughter, Karen,

back in Huntington Beach,

California.

>> November 14, 1941,

somewhere at sea.

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

Darling, I am not sure, but I am

afraid this Japan situation is

going to hold up our going back

to the States for a while.

Oh, my darling,

I do love you so terribly much,

and I would give anything

in the world to see you

and take you in my arms

and tell you how terribly much

I miss you.

Darling, I have already picked

out your Christmas present.

No, I won't tell you what it is.

It has to be

ordered from the States,

so I'm going to wait

until around the 5th of December

to order it

and then have it sent

directly to you from the store

instead of from out here.

Your own, Bill.

>> Above the U.S.S. Arizona

today, the events of

December 7, 1941, slowly come

into focus.

The idea of memorializing

this battleship didn't go away

after World War II was over,

but it would take time --

a lot of time -- to figure out

how to do it properly.

Eventually, thanks to

the determination of a small

and diverse group of people,

efforts to honor the

U.S.S. Arizona

and her fallen crew

with a memorial were realized.

On that short list of names

who helped to ensure that

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,

and the U.S.S. Arizona

would always be remembered

was a young, charismatic singer

from Mississippi.

They called him the

King of Rock 'n' Roll.

♪

♪

♪

♪

>> We interrupt this program

to bring you a special news

bulletin.

>> The United States of America

was suddenly and deliberately

was suddenly and deliberately

attacked.

>> In his Provo, Utah, home,

Ken Potts is surrounded

by memories of December 7, 1941,

and his battleship,

the U.S.S. Arizona.

>> That's my best friend

who was killed.

>> On that Sunday morning of

infamy, as the Japanese attack

the Arizon young

crane operator was in Honolulu.

>> I was ashore.

I stayed overnight the night

before.

I was ashore,

and there was horns honking

and sirens going and everything.

And then turned the radio on

that said all Navy personnel,

get back to their ships.

>> The attack apparently was

made on all naval

and military activities

on the principal island of Oahu.

>> Ordinarily, at that time of

day, there was nothing going on,

much moving, but that morning,

there was plenty of movement,

and it was on

all the loudspeakers,

all the radios,

everything had the tag that

"This is real.

This is not a drill.

This is the real thing."

>> Ken Potts made it back

onto the U.S.S. Arizona

to do what he could,

but by 8:06 a.m.,

the fate of the battleship

was sealed.

A Japanese bomb had ignited

the Arizon forward

ammunition storage compartment.

Bodies and steel vaporized.

>> When I got back

to Pearl Harbor, the whole

harbor was afire.

The oil had leaked out

and caught on fire

and was burning.

They had ships fighting

the fire, tugs.

That's when they got on

the loudspeaker and said,

"Abandon ship."

And they'd go -- some of them

jumped in the water.

Some of them didn't make it.

>> The Japanese hit us hard

at Pearl Harbor.

>> The attack on Pearl Harbor

united Americans as never before

in history.

>> Arizo crewman Ken Potts

was not the only person

looking on in horror

on the morning of December 7,

1941.

Oahu resident Mildred Martin

witnessed scenes

that no 5-year-old girl

>> We seen the turmoil

that was going on

and the drama, and it was real,

because they were coming down,

fire landing right on the water.

[ Shuddered breathing,

sniffles ]

So hard.

And you could see them

in the water, floating,

and it wasn't a good scene.

It was frightening, scary.

And for me, being 5 years old

at that time,

my aunt said, "Let's go.

Come on, let's go."

So we did.

It was something that you can't

forget because you see the fire,

forget because you see the fire,

the planes,

and you could see the planes,

the Japanese planes coming down,

and you could see that red

logos that they have

on their planes,

and it -- it's something that

it'll stay with you forever.

My dad had just left

the Arizona.

He came home to take us

to my grandmother's house

for safety reasons

and to be there

and not to be in the line

of fire, where the fighting

was going on and so forth.

Then my father returned to work,

to Pearl Harbor.

My father was on the Arizona

that same morning

and had just left the Arizona

when all that happened.

And how he ever

got home is beyond me,

because he had to leave

Ford Island to come across

the way to -- to go to our home,

to take us to safety.

and family watched the attack

on Pearl Harbor, also.

>> My mother was living

with her father in Pearl Harbor.

He was in charge of the Navy

shipyard, and they were there

for the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

And my grandmother tells of,

you know, looking up

and seeing the Japanese plane

with the rising sun on it

and seeing the pilot.

And being a good Catholic,

they all gathered around

and said the Rosary.

♪

>> The carnage left

almost 2,400 Americans dead.

Almost half of those killed

that morning, 1,177,

were on the battleship

U.S.S. Arizona.

>> Our visitors that come today,

they're shocked.

Sometimes had no idea of the,

you know, this story as immense

and as -- as deadly as it was,

that Pearl Harbor

was a catastrophe

for the United States

and for the Pacific Fleet.

♪

♪

>> Elvis Aaron Presley

was born in January of 1935

in Tupelo, Mississippi,

six years prior to Pearl Harbor.

Nobody knew from these

early photos that Elvis Presley

was on his way

to becoming a music legend,

a first name only needed

superstar.

By 1956,

Elvis was already being referred

to as the fledgling king

of all rock 'n' roll.

Pearl Harbor and the

Pearl Harbor and the

U.S.S. Arizona

would become an important,

if lesser known, chapter of

the Elvis Presley story.

In 1949, as Elvis Presley

navigated his teenage years in

Mississippi,

teaching himself to play guitar,

an organization called the

Pacific War Memorial Commission

was forming in Hawaii.

Their goal was to make sure

all those who died

on December 7, 1941,

on the island of Oahu

would be memorialized.

In 1950, not waiting on any

commission to act,

United States Admiral

Arthur Radford, commander and

chief of the United States

Pacific Fleet,

of Pearl Harbor, especially

those on the U.S.S. Arizona.

>> Admiral Radford

had the idea of memorializing

the wreck of the Arizona.

Now, it was -- been stripped

down to its main decks.

All the upper structure

had been removed.

And he built a platform,

like a deck-like structure there

with kind of banisters around

it, a speaking platform

and a flagpole.

And then, he also dedicated a

plaque.

So, in 1950, the first memorial

to the Arizona is initiated

by the commanding admiral here.

>> Each day, Admiral Radford

had an American flag raised

and lowered on that makeshift

wooden platform

above the wreck of the Arizona.

Arthur Radford also had

a small plaque attached to the

wreckage of the U.S.S. Utah,

which also still lies

in Pearl Harbor,

off Ford Island.

Both ships were unsalvageable

and watery graves

for their crews.

As for the U.S.S. Arizona,

Arthur Radford's vision

was for something on a much

grander scale to be done

to recognize the more than

1,100 killed on the battleship.

But what would that memorial

look like?

It took several more years,

but a formal proposal for a new

U.S.S. Arizona memorial

was made to the

Pacific War Memorial Commission

by the 14th Navy District

in Hawaii.

In 1958, D-Day hero and now

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

gave his approval,

allowing the commission

to legally raise private funds

to construct a memorial

for the Arizona.

$500,000 was needed.

By the mid 1950s,

Elvis Presley had become

the biggest name in music.

The world had never seen

anything like Elvis,

who moved across the stage

like a gyrating tornado.

From Maine to California,

parents raised eyebrows

while their sons and daughters

danced and screamed.

Presley also topped

all the charts

Elvis mania

had taken over the islands.

had taken over the islands.

>> Everybody knows who he was.

>> I heard him on the radio

singing "Heartbreak Hotel."

And every five minutes,

I would hear him singing and

singing.

So that's what kicked things

off for me.

>> While Elvis was turning out

one hit after another,

the initial fundraising drive

for the U.S.S. Arizona memorial

limped along into late 1958.

Some private donations

came in here and there,

but it was nowhere near the goal

of a half million dollars.

Things change dramatically

on December 3, 1958.

That's when television host

Ralph Edwards visited

the U.S.S. Arizona to honor

one of the battleship's heroes.

His national TV show,

"This is Your Life,"

also filmed segments

inside Pearl Harbor's

famed venue Bloch Arena.

Ralph Edwards was asking

Americans to once again

remember Pearl Harbor,

17 years after America

was first attacked

and went to war.

>> "This Is Your Life,"

the program for all America.

And now here he is again,

Mr. This Is Your Life himself,

speaking to you from a Navy

tug lying Ford Island

in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,

Ralph Edwards.

[ Applause ]

"This Is Your Life,"

Admiral Samuel Glenn Fuqua,

U.S. Navy, retired.

Thank you, and may God bless

you.

>> Thank you, Ralph.

I appreciate all you...

[ Applause ]

>> Ladies and gentlemen of

America, we have the high honor

of helping to launch a project

nationally approved

by congressional resolution

to enshrine the U.S.S. Arizona

and provide here a fitting

monument to the memory

of the young Americans

who died here.

We're asking you to participate

in this project,

not out of your generosity

but out of your loyalty

to America, your patriotism.

A commission has been appointed

by the governor of the territory

of Hawaii to raise the funds,

and the Navy has been authorized

by Congress to accept

and to use the money

that comes in to enshrine

the U.S.S. Arizona.

Are there 1 million,

2 million, more, of you

out there in our audience

who will put a dollar bill

in an envelope right now?

Address it

and send it to U.S.S. Arizona,

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

You'll be helping to build

a national cemetery

for those who died for you

and lie here

in an unmarked grave.

And you'll be answering

the prayer closest to the heart

of Rear Admiral Samuel Fuqua,

U.S. Navy, retired,

and to the hearts of all the men

and women in all branches of the

service, to whom the very words

Pearl Harbor were a fighting

challenge that led them on to

>> And they initially got

$90,000 of money.

>> The idea was to honor

the memory of those

who had died at Pearl Harbor

on December 7th, 1941.

on December 7th, 1941.

>> Ralph Edwards knew

Medal of Honor recipient

Samuel Fuqua's leadership of

his crew on December 7, 1941,

would resonate with the public,

as do the voices still of

the men Fuqua commanded,

such as Bill Woodward.

>> November 18, 1941.

Pearl Harbor.

Honey, I sure hope

that they let me out of here

as soon as my time is up

instead of holding me

in a couple of months or so.

That would really be

the last straw.

I sure wish I could be with you

Thanksgiving Day, my sweet.

Your own, Bill.

♪

>> With additional private funds

now available, thanks to

Ralph Edwards' efforts, the

Pacific War Memorial Commission

and the 14th Navy District

set out to hire an architect

to design the new U.S.S. Arizona

memorial.

>> The most important thing

about this,

despite all of this fundraising,

what was the idea?

What was it going to look like?

And so there were a number of

people that entered a

competition.

>> Alfred Preis, an immigrant

from Nazi-occupied Vienna,

Austria, was chosen.

>> Alfred Preis' design

was not exactly what

they thought it was going to be,

yet it was provocative,

it was contemporary art.

And Alfred, being a refugee

himself from -- from Austria

and incarcerated with

Japanese Americans initially

because he was from an Axis

power so is at Sand Island

but proves to be a loyal guy

and ends up being an architect

for the Navy throughout the war,

he submits this design,

and the Navy said, "Make sure

it's a bridge-like structure."

So some of the architects

thought, "Oh, bridge-like

structure?

You mean like ship?"

And they built these pretty

interesting designs,

submitted those.

Alfred interpreted it

differently.

He thought of a suspension

bridge, and that's

what that memorial is.

I cannot think of any design

other than this one.

It is the

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.

And so Alfred's genius

was prosecuting the idea

of a bridge-like structure

and leaving us with a symbol

unlike any other World War II

or monument in our country.

Those men are at peace now.

They lie together in the ship,

whether in remains or molecules.

They're there, and the men

that survive the ship,

you know, over 40 of them have

decided to go back to the ship.

The question that always

haunted me is, "Why?"

They felt, some of them, that

they were lucky, and they wanted

to rejoin their shipmates.

Each individual has a different

tone and a different acceptance

tone and a different acceptance

of that memorial.

And I've noticed that with

the veterans, and I've noticed

that with my colleagues.

Everyone has a little bit

different bent on what that

memorial design means and what

Alfred Preis intended.

>> Alfred Preis's approved

blueprints laid out a

184-foot-long, 36-foot-wide span

across the U.S.S. Arizona's

sunken hull.

The memorial would cross the

middle deck of the battleship

but not touch the Arizona

at any point.

Preis's design called for rises

at each end of the bridge-like

span with a sag in the middle.

The first rise would recognize

the height of American pride

before the war.

The dip in the middle signified

the low point of a nation

following Pearl Harbor.

The second rise represented

American power reaching new

heights after the war.

Vermont marble would be used.

A shrine room would host all

the names of all those crewmen

killed on December 7, 1941.

Some of Arizona's crew

also lie in unmarked graves

just a few miles away at

the National Memorial Cemetery

of the Pacific,

also called the Punchbowl.

The Walker Moody Construction

Company would build the

memorial, assisted by the

Pearl Harbor Public Works

Center.

Alfred Preis's plans

for the new U.S.S. Arizona

Memorial were approved.

♪

The territory of Hawaii

in the 1950s was paradise

a mix of diverse people

and cultures.

>> We didn't live on the naval

base, so we were more attuned

to the rhythms of the classmates

that I went to school with.

We had Pacific Islanders,

Hawaiians, Japanese,

Chinese, haoles, kama'ainas --

we had them all at my little

school that I -- that I went to.

>> Elvis made his first trip

to perform in Hawaii

in late 1957,

prior to the islands

being granted statehood

two years later.

>> Hawaii had a special

kind of notch in Elvis's heart.

He liked coming here.

He liked the people here.

He liked the music.

He learned about slack-key

and other types -- ukulele --

and all of the things that we

as people that live here know

and local people have known

for years, that there was

music beyond the music.

>> Arizo crewman Bill Woodward

knew the local music well.

More than anything, though,

he just longed to be

with his young family.

>> November 22, 1941.

Pearl Harbor.

My very own precious darling

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

Darling, I do love you so

terribly much.

And I can hardly wait

until I can sit around the house

with you in my arms

and getting in your way

when you're trying to cook

or something as I kiss you.

It will be so heavenly

when we do get together again.

Your own, Bill.

♪

>> There was early fundraising

success,

thanks to Ralph Edwards,

and some seed money

from the territory of Hawaii,

but the Pacific War Memorial

Commission soon realized

that, in addition

to private donations,

it would eventually need federal

or state contributions

to get the memorial finished.

In 1960, with construction

now underway,

only about half of the needed

$500,000 for the memorial

had been raised.

That's when the longtime editor

of The Honolulu Advertiser,

a World War II veteran himself,

stepped in to re-energize

>> George Chaplin,

he was editor for decades.

He was always very involved

in the community,

very civic-minded.

And there were --

The fundraising for the

Arizona Memorial was already

going on, but they didn't have

enough money.

The fundraising was lagging.

So what he did is,

he wrote a letter addressed,

"My dear fellow editor"

and sent it to about a 1,500

daily newspapers

across the country, asking them

for support writing articles

about the need to raise funds

for the Arizona Memorial,

and about a week or so later,

the editor of a Los Angeles

newspaper -- no longer being

published but called

the Los Angeles Examiner --

he wrote an editorial,

and Colonel Parker,

Elvis's manager,

saw it, and I guess immediately

called up George Chaplin

and offered to do

a fundraising concert.

>> Colonel Tom Parker

read the L.A. Examiner article

in late 1960.

Parker had been stationed with

the Army in Waikiki, Hawaii.

Earlier, in 1960,

his superstar client,

Elvis Presley,

of a two-year enlistment

in the United States Army.

>> I learned a lot.

I made a lot of friends that I

never would have made otherwise.

And, uh...I've had a lot of

good experiences.

>> In the spring of 1961,

Elvis Presley was set to begin

shooting a new feature film

on the Hawaiian island of Oahu,

called "Blue Hawaii."

Colonel Tom Parker,

with all the stars now aligning,

with all the stars now aligning,

felt here was an opportunity

for a patriotic Elvis to pitch

in while in Hawaii to help

the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

effort.

>> And he saw that the editor

was calling for

a fundraising event

for the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

to help raise moneys.

And all the editors throughout

the country were doing

these kind of editorials.

He read the editorial,

and he called the paper up,

and he said, "Hey, we're --

who's doing this, and all this?"

and, "Oh, it's in Hawaii, da da

da."

Gives him a call, he says,

"Well, we're coming over to do a

film.

Can Elvis do something to raise

money?"

And they came up with the idea

of a benefit concert.

Guess where.

Held at Bloch Arena.

>> Pearl Harbor Naval Station's

Bloch Arena was chosen

as the venue, the same

Bloch Arena, which hosted the

Ralph Edward show in 1958.

The arena also had ties to the

attack on Pearl Harbor itself.

Bloch had been the venue

in November and December of 1941

for something called

the Battle of Music.

The Battle of Music was

a competition between the bands

on the various battleships

anchored in Pearl Harbor,

especially those along

Battleship Row, off Ford Island.

The last Battle of Music

performance came on the night

of December 6, 1941,

at Bloch Arena.

♪

>> ♪ Yes, sir

♪

♪ No, no, sir

♪

♪ Yes, sir

>> The U.S.S. Arizona's entire

21-member band

would be dead the next morning,

along with many of the musicians

on other battleships who

took part in the competition.

Plans were now coming together

for an Elvis Presley

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial benefit

concert.

>> Colonel Parker was,

you know -- he was --

he knew how to pull the strings.

And it wasn't hard, because,

you know, Elvis was

a very patriotic fellow, and --

and he loved the country.

You know, he had served

the country as a soldier.

And so he was the kind of

thing -- "Anything I can do."

And he thought it was

a good idea.

But I think Colonel Parker

thought it was also a good idea

for Elvis to come to Hawaii

and to get the publicity.

As you know, Elvis returns.

I mean, his return concert

was here.

It was like a place that he was

reborn.

And in a way,

he was more sensitive now

to understanding World War II

since he wasn't in it and

understanding about this story.

I mean, the thing was, he was

shocked at how many people had

died.

He didn't know.

The Navy was the one

that suggested Bloch Arena

right away.

And remember, they had

a backdrop for the Bloch Arena

because they had used it before

in the "This Is Your Life"

program.

It was large enough to put

a big concert in,

and it had its ties back

to the days of Pearl Harbor,

with the last dance of the --

before the war.

You walk in there and you know

that the Arizona's band

once played there,

that every man in that band

was killed instantly

on December 7th.

And on that last night of peace,

the strains of that music

was coming across these waters.

Little did they know that,

the next day, the United States

would be plunged into war.

You go to Bloch Arena, and if

you blink your eyes twice,

you can go back to that time

period because you can actually

still see where the stage

was for Elvis's concert.

It was intimate.

And so if you had a ticket

for that, that was pretty neat

because you were close,

and you -- you could be

drowned out by the music

and watch Elvis wiggle.

>> March 25th was the date set

for the Bloch Arena

Elvis Presley show.

Tickets went on sale March 13,

1961.

26-year-old Elvis Presley

purchased the very first one.

It would be just his second

live performance

since leaving the Army.

Sue Holderman's father,

Charles Albert "Spike"

Hennessey, would play an

important role.

>> And my father was then

made the director of

the fundraising in his position

as director of the

14th Naval District in Hawaii.

He undertook it, of course,

because it was a very

worthy cause.

He worked very hard at

putting all the parts together

so that when Elvis

arrived the day of the concert

that everything was in place.

He was the go-to person

when Elvis or Colonel Parker

had any questions.

Any problems whatsoever, they

went to our -- my father.

>> Some 20 years earlier,

U.S.S. Arizona crewman

Bill Woodward was writing home

to his wife, Virginia,

and baby daughter Karen about

his new job on the battleship.

>> November 24, 1941.

Pearl Harbor.

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

Darling, from now on,

be sure to address

all of my letters to M division

instead of B,

as I've been transferred along

with another machinist's mate

and eight firemen.

They transferred us because

they want some experienced men

in the engine rooms.

I sure will be glad when

the steamer comes in Wednesday.

I should have at least

three letters from you,

and I will read each

and every one of them six times.

and every one of them six times.

Just your own, Bill.

>> On March 25, 1961,

Elvis Presley stopped

for a few early morning photos

at the airport before departing

Los Angeles, California,

for Hawaii.

Pan American Flight 817

left L.A. early in the morning,

the start of what was going

to be a very long day.

On board was the King of

Rock 'n' Roll,

Colonel Tom Parker,

and a large entourage of

opening-act musicians and

support staff.

The flight took about six hours.

at Honolulu Airport around

12:15 that same afternoon.

A jet-lagged Elvis stepped off

the plane at 12:27.

>> It looks as if

it's Elvis Presley!

[ Crowd cheering ]

Elvis is getting off the plane.

He's shaking his head.

He's accompanied by quite

a few people there.

And they're all moving around

somewhere in form.

That's Hal Wallis right behind

Elvis Presley.

Elvis is wearing a very

conservative dark suit

this morning.

>> Thousands of fans had been

waiting hours to see him.

He was immediately weighed down

with leis.

>> It was flippin' crazy.

There were so many

And all of these fans welcome

him.

And, see, it just -- it had a

buoyancy to it almost

immediately that, "Elvis is

here.

He's going to give a concert.

We're going to build this

memorial."

And so it had a life of its own.

And while he was here, this --

this town was on its heels.

>> My name is David English,

and I'm an author and researcher

on Elvis Presley books.

>> David English captured

the entire Elvis/U.S.S. Arizona

story from beginning to end

"Rock Around the Bloch!",

as in Bloch Arena.

>> The scene at the airport

was -- was amazing.

There was 3,000 teenagers

to receive Elvis.

And what happened was, the

regular passengers disembarked

from the front of the plane.

And there was, you know,

"Where's Elvis?"

He came out the back --

the back door,

where everyone just went wild.

And he traveled through all

the fans saying hello to him.

And he had leis put onto him.

And then he made his way

to a waiting limousine,

and they were driven

through Honolulu to the hotel.

And then, about quarter

to 4:00 in the afternoon,

he went to a press conference

with all the waiting reporters

and newsmen and some teenage --

school teenagers there.

>> The press conference

in the Carousel Room

at the Hawaiian Village

that same day at 3:45

was wild in its own right,

with reporters from 27 area

high schools among the more than

100 people in attendance.

One young schoolgirl

just wouldn't let go of Elvis.

just wouldn't let go of Elvis.

Colonel Parker had to step in.

>> Aloha. I guess you're

wondering why I called you here.

Tell you the truth, I can't tell

you right now because I don't

know.

[ Laughter ]

And we got a show tonight.

>> Because, after all,

what Elvis is doing here

is for a very great cause.

And so I speak very briefly

but to the point

on behalf of the 1,177 men who

are entombed in the Arizona, and

on their behalf and on behalf of

the Pacific War Memorial

Commission, we want to thank

all who have played such a very

important part in this program

to be held tonight.

>> Everywhere Elvis went,

so did local promoter

and disc jockey Tom Moffatt.

Moffatt was legendary

in the islands for helping

the big acts get organized

when they came to Oahu.

>> I think that the most

important local connection

that really made this goal

was Tom Moffatt.

Tom Moffatt was a -- you know,

a guy that just promoted a lot

of things and brought bands in.

And now having Elvis

and being part of that --

the concerts.

He knew all of that.

>> Every night while I'm doing

my homework, I would listen

to --

I have a little transistor

radio.

I would listen to the radio.

And nothing but Elvis's song

all the time.

But every five minutes, Elvis.

And that's how I met

Tom Moffatt.

"Uncle Tom, please play Elvis.

Uncle Tom, please play Elvis."

>> Moffatt would make certain

the Bloch Arena show received

great publicity.

Elvis was in town, after all,

for a purpose -- to help ensure

all those on the U.S.S. Arizona,

such as crewman Bill Woodward,

would always have a place

in history.

>> November 26, 1941.

Pearl Harbor.

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

Well, darling, we go to sea

again Friday for another week.

We will be back in

the 4th of December, I think.

I only hope that the next time

we go out,

we will be going to the States.

Well, darling, I must close

for tonight and go to bed

and have one of our dreams.

I only wish it could be real,

but it will be forever

one of these days.

Your own, Bill.

>> Tickets for the March 25th

were priced anywhere from $3

to $100.

>> My stepdad owned

a savings and loan.

And they bought one ticket,

and I was it.

>> And I told my mom and my dad,

my brothers and sisters,

"I have to go to this."

>> Because it was a fundraiser

for a new U.S.S. Arizona

memorial, everyone had to pay

that night to get in.

that night to get in.

Even Elvis's opening acts,

including Minnie Pearl,

Boots Randolph, and

The Jordanaires

had to buy tickets.

Elvis bought tickets for 30

patients at nearby

Tripler Military Hospital.

The rest of the seats at

Bloch Arena had sold out fast.

Unfortunately, Sue Holderman

didn't have a ticket

to Elvis's concert,

even though her father was on

the event planning committee.

That would change.

>> My father knew

how much I liked Elvis.

He mentioned to Colonel Parker

that it would be

a real nice thing if he could

just bring me by Elvis's

and Colonel Parker's hotel room.

And Colonel Parker said,

"Of course.

Please come."

At the end of our brief stay,

Elvis said, "I'll see you

tonight."

"We won't be going.

We can't afford it.

I have six kids living in

Waikiki.

There's no way that we can go."

Elvis turned to Colonel Parker,

and he said, "Would you get her

a ticket?"

And he went into his office

room, whatever, came out

with a ticket for me

for the concert that night.

>> With her free ticket in hand,

Sue Holderman,

along with Sally Hall,

Lovely Kwock, and 4,000

other people descended

on Bloch Arena at Pearl Harbor

on the evening of March 25,

1961.

The concert was set to begin

The gates at Bloch Arena opened

at 7:15 that evening.

>> That night,

my father dropped me off,

and one of Elvis's attendants

escorted me in.

Screaming fans.

There were only 4,000 people.

There could've been 400,000 for

the amount of noise coming out.

There was no seat for me because

I was just a last-minute add-on.

I remember the attendant

asking one of the ushers

to get a folding chair

and bring it into the aisle.

And I was front and center,

sticking out of an aisle

of a row,

embarrassed, because here

I was just right out there

in kind of the middle

of this row of people

pretty much in the front.

And, okay, 12 years old.

I thought, "This couldn't get

any better than this."

>> Also attending the concert

on the night of March 25, 1961,

was Mildred Martin.

Mildred, you remember,

had watched the actual attack

at Pearl Harbor on December 7,

1941, as a 5-year-old.

Her dad had been on

the U.S.S. Arizona

that very Sunday morning,

finishing up some construction

work before returning home.

Now, as a married adult

in her mid 20s,

Mildred was going to see

Elvis raise money to honor

those killed on the Arizona,

an event she witnessed.

>> And it's a great pleasure

to welcome him here

and to present to you

and to present to you

[ Crowd cheering ]

>> Everybody screamed.

This young man is doing

a fantastic job of trying

to honor our Arizona people.

>> I had a friend, Rick Benson,

and his father

was Admiral Benson,

and he asked me to go

to this concert.

And so Admiral Benson

got us seats center.

It was between

the fifth and tenth row.

I think we were right up front.

And it was very exciting.

>> And guess where I sat.

In the back of the stage.

But at least I got there.

It was the closest I could get

to him, 'cause I wanted to see

him.

I wanted to touch him.

>> People were screaming,

and there was just this light

and this energy

that you can't believe.

And he had

this wonderful sense of humor,

which you don't normally get,

you know, because he would go

like this, wiggle his arm,

and everybody would scream.

And he'd laugh, so he'd do

a little bit of a song,

then shake his leg a little,

and everyone would scream

and he'd laugh.

It's like he really enjoyed

seeing what he could do

to make people scream.

>> Boy, it was so loud, so

crowded, so much noise.

You couldn't hear anything.

You couldn't even hear the words

of the song.

>> I sang along.

Sang along with a lot of the

songs.

"Hound Dog" was my favorite,

I think.

>> There were people way up

in the back, bleachers way up in

the back, and there were chairs

all down the bottom.

He flicked his arm or wiggled,

there was screams all over.

>> Thank you very much.

And I have to tell you, it's a

pleasure to be back in -- where

are we?

Oh, Honolulu.

[ Crowd cheering ]

I'd like to thank you all for

coming out.

>> Elvis's 15-song, 45-minute

set list that night included

all of his top hits at the time,

such as "Heartbreak Hotel,"

"All Shook Up,"

"Fool Such As I,"

and "Don't Be Cruel,"

and so many other fan favorites.

>> Well, the one

that really stood out was

"You Ain't Nothing

But a Hound Dog."

>> ♪ You ain't nothin'

but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time

♪ You ain't nothin'...

>> Talk about knees melting.

It was almost like their knees

were just melting,

like a silly teenager.

And after that, I said, "Oh,

wow.

What he's doing, what he did

here for the music,

for raising funds and all,"

I said, "That's really

fascinating."

>> ♪ Won't you love me tonight

♪ One night with you

♪

>> One of the journalists

at the time said that the roar

from the teenaged crowd

was so loud

that none of the reporters

could actually hear

could actually hear

what Elvis was singing.

And Elvis had said at the time

that he could

because, you know,

no one could hear him.

The sound system was, you know,

not state-of-the-art,

and the roar and the intensity

of the -- of the crowd

was such that, you know,

no one could hear Elvis singing,

which is quite ironic, really.

>> Ladies and gentlemen, I'd

like to do the very first record

that we ever made.

This was for the Sun Record

people.

It's called,

"That's All Right, Mama."

[ Crowd cheering ]

♪

♪ Well, that's all right, mama

>> He had a gold lamé coat on.

You know, it was just glistening

and -- and just rocked,

and people that were there

had the time of their life.

And, you know, think about it.

This superstar comes to Hawaii

in that time period?

Wow.

>> Elvis's concert

at Bloch Arena

had been a huge success

for all his fans in attendance

and for the U.S.S. Arizona

memorial fundraising effort.

That's what all the newspapers

said the next day.

>> My biggest-selling record

was a song called

"Don't Be Cruel."

[ Crowd cheering ]

♪

>> I think that what stands out

is hearing Elvis' voice talking

to the crowd and, you know,

engaging them.

>> Thanks again,

ladies and gentlemen.

>> Elvis has left the building.

>> It was such an incredible

moment in time that, inside

Bloch Arena today,

the King of Rock 'n' Roll's

March 25, 1961 visit

is still memorialized.

Articles, photos,

and recognition line the walls.

Elvis old dressing room

that night, echoes from

another time.

Over $60,000 was raised from

Elvis's concert,

which was added to $250,000

already now in the bank.

The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

project had regained its

momentum, and better yet,

received some much needed

publicity.

Disc jockey Tom Moffatt

caught up with Elvis

"Blue Hawaii" following

the benefit at Bloch Arena.

>> Were you happy with the

turnout and the response from

the show and everything?

>> Oh, yeah, I sure was.

And I was glad everybody

was yelling and everything.

Covered up my mistakes.

[ Both laugh ]

Because I hadn't -- I hadn't had

any rehearsals, you know,

and I've been out of practice.

Hadn't been on stage since 1957.

>> Yeah, yeah.

That's a long time.

>> The band -- The band had

forgotten a song, I'd forgotten

the lyrics to most of the songs.

In fact, a lot of times, I said

the same lyrics over and over

and over, used the same line.

>> Elvis's association

with the memorial

had a long reach

as more donations arrived

as more donations arrived

from across the country.

Construction on the

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial was now

well underway,

Alfred Preis's architectural

drawings rounding

into something concrete.

The final piece

of the fundraising puzzle

came in late 1961.

That's when Congress,

led by

Daniel Inouye, a World War II

Medal of Honor recipient,

provided an additional

$150,000 in public

funding to finish the project.

Another World War II hero,

President John F. Kennedy,

approved the federal money.

The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

effort had reached its $500,000

goal and then some, thanks to a

mix of private and, at the end,

public funding.

Arizona crewman

Bill Woodward's optimism

about his family's future

still resonated prior

to December 7, 1941.

>> November 1941.

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

Oh, darling, I do so hope that

we go back to the States before

long.

There is a lot of talk that

we will and a lot that we won't.

It shouldn't be so very long

before we know one way

or the other.

Oh, God.

How I hope it's the right way.

Your own, Bill.

>> The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

was completed in 1962,

then dedicated on Memorial Day

of that same year.

♪

♪

♪

♪

Elvis had, indeed, helped to get

the fundraising effort

to the finish line,

but it took an entire village --

Admiral Arthur Radford,

Ralph Edwards, George Chaplin,

and Colonel Tom Parker,

among others -- to help turn

the original

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

blueprints of Alfred Preis

into a tangible memorial.

♪

>> The combination of

Ralph Edwards'

"This Is Your Life"

and Elvis, "Blue Hawaii," we

have a U.S.S. Arizona Memorial,

and that's a great story.

But, you know,

I think about Samuel Fuqua,

who came on deck

of that battleship

and looked around like -- right

like we are here,

and all around him were dead

and burning people.

and burning people.

And he found out really quickly

none of those guys up forward

survived.

And so for Samuel Fuqua

to be involved in raising

and perpetuating this story and

then eventually the fundraising,

it really speaks well

of the memory of Pearl Harbor

and remembering that tragic day

with this beautiful memorial

that stands behind me.

♪

>> Elvis did the concert.

He never forgot the Arizona.

Every time he came to Hawaii,

he would always stop off

to visit, to pay homage,

just to be there

for the Arizona.

And he took pride in knowing

that the people of Hawaii

appreciated whoever came to the

Arizona, appreciated the

memorial, to remember not him

but those that gave their lives

on that day.

>> There was a momentum

that hadn't been there before.

And when Admiral Radford built

his small little memorial

in the 1950s,

he always had the idea

of a broader interpretation.

>> When you visit,

you're just more overwhelmed

by the emotion of the place.

>> And it still is the

number-one visitation site here

on Oahu.

>> You know, there aren't

very many human beings

that influence so many people,

and he -- he was -- he had a

beauty about him.

He was a good person.

>> That's how Elvis is and was.

Yeah.

So helpful, caring, sharing,

yeah.

>> He was a wonderful

entertainer for -- during his

time, and, you know, it's too

bad that he left us so early.

>> I think it left a legacy

for Elvis.

It was something that was larger

than himself.

He came back to see the memorial

that he had helped build.

And you can see it in his eyes,

the wonder of being there, that,

"Yeah, I guess, in some ways,

I helped out here."

He couldn't see anything

tangible at that time

when he gave the concert,

but when he came back,

he could see that he was part

of something much larger

than he thought.

>> Elvis Presley had

become the effort's Pied Piper,

the front man of the band,

if you will.

The Arizona Memorial,

a part of the King's

lasting legacy.

>> December 2, 1941.

Somewhere at sea.

My very own precious darling

wife and baby.

wife and baby.

After six more months, my sweet,

you will never have to be alone

for a whole day again.

I will be terribly glad

when we get back in,

because it will be that much

closer to the 13th,

and I want to get my mail

that I should have waiting

for me there from you.

for today and go on watch.

Your own, Bill.

♪

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