The USS Utah, a target and training ship, took two torpedoes on Dec. 7, 1941, capsized and was only partially righted using cables that are rusting away on a portion of its hull still jutting from Pearl Harbor.
Fifty-eight crewmen were entombed on the Utah, but neither the men nor the ship are getting the respect they deserve from the National Park Service, a well-respected Pearl Harbor survivors liaison maintains.
In a Feb. 13 letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, retired Navy Master Chief Jim Taylor complained that the National Park Service "has chosen to neglect the maintenance, upkeep and public accessibility of the USS Utah Memorial."
Taylor, 76, noted that both the USS Arizona and Utah, on a different side of Ford Island, are tombs for the mostly young sailors killed in the attack.
But the Utah, often referred to as the "forgotten memorial," doesn’t get the same kind of publicity, tourist visits or upkeep.
The park service seems "to have all kinds of money and labor for the restoration and improvements for the USS Arizona Memorial, but nothing for the Utah," Taylor said in the letter. He is still awaiting a response.
In late 2008, President George W. Bush designated the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, adding nine historic sites "to our national heritage of monuments and memorials representing various aspects of the war in the Pacific."
The Arizona and Utah memorials are among those sites, and the proclamation specifies that the interior secretary has management responsibility for the monument sites and facilities in Hawaii.
"Since then, NPS has done little to maintain the memorial or to make it accessible to the public," Taylor said. "The only improvement done in the last six years was accomplished through the efforts of a Boy Scout for his Eagle Scout project with the assistance of a civilian construction company which provided money and labor."
A handicap ramp was created, railings on the memorial walkway were improved and the parking lot was paved as part of that project, he said.
Taylor noted that tour buses run throughout the day, shuttling visitors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial and Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor on Ford Island. He suggested that the park service join with the museums to have buses also drop off and pick up visitors at select times at the Utah Memorial, with a park ranger or volunteer giving a talk and providing supervision.
Paul DePrey, superintendent of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, said in July 2013 that when the park service became responsible for the Utah Memorial, "we struggled with, ‘How do we get people out there?’ Because it’s behind the (Navy security) gate, as it were."
Asked about Taylor’s more recent concerns, DePrey said Friday in an email that since 2008 "the National Park Service has worked with partners to enhance the condition of the USS Utah Memorial, including repainting the structure, placing buoys on the ends of the ship, adding safety elements to the memorial, installing an interpretive display about the ship and adding a ramp and railing system for safer access by mobility impaired individuals."
Much of that work was accomplished "through the tremendous stewardship of partners committed to preserving the USS Utah’s legacy. These include construction companies, architectural firms, military volunteers, residents of Ford Island and Scouts," DePrey said.
DePrey added that while public access to the USS Utah Memorial is restricted, it is visited by school groups, residents of Ford Island and attendees at ceremonies held at the site.
"Broader public visitation is still a goal, anticipating a time that shuttle buses that circulate on Ford Island between historic venues would be able to stop at the memorial," he said.
"Park rangers do provide interpretation on the memorial intermittently and to visiting groups."
Over two decades, Taylor has assisted with the scattering of ashes of more than 300 Pearl Harbor defenders, mostly from the end of the Utah Memorial’s viewing platform, and helped place the urns of 11 crew members in their former ship.
He is the volunteer Pearl Harbor survivors liaison for Navy Region Hawaii and plans, organizes and conducts the farewell ceremonies.
Taylor said he once told Cecil Calavan, president of the USS Utah Survivors Association, that he would do his best to get the memorial open to the public.
The Washington state man never got to see that happen. Calavan died at age 90 in August.
Taylor helped the family inter his ashes on the Utah on Dec. 6.
"It’s one of those things that I’m really tired of — waiting for somebody to do something," said Taylor.
In his letter to Jewell, he said, "As an honorary USS Utah survivor, I speak for all USS Utah veterans and their families in requesting your assistance to persuade NPS to support USS Utah Memorial, as mandated by law."
