UA Student Union Welcomes Bell from USS Arizona to New Home
Lt. K.J. Green, with the Naval ROTC at the University of Arizona, admires the bell of the USS Arizona as workers prepare to hang it in the new belfry at the Student Union Memorial Center. Images by Janis Leibold.
Bob Bertolini, senior supervisor with Swinerton & Walberg Builders, said the hoisting and positioning of the bell went off without a hitch.
The bell of the USS Arizona was hoisted and positioned into its new home in the Student Union Memorial Center at 8 a.m. on Aug. 16.
"For the first time in 50 years, the bell will be visible," said Christopher H. Kraft, design-build project manager with UA Facilities Design and Construction. "The new belfry enables the bell to be seen from the east and west sides."
Workers removed the bell from the closed tower of the old Student Union Memorial on the morning of Nov. 18, 2000, as that section of the building was scheduled for demolition. The bell was temporarily stored in the Carpentry Shop at UA Facilities Management. The WWII-era relic was initially installed when the first Student Union was built in 1951.
The 1,820-pound bell is one of two salvaged from the USS Arizona, which was sunk at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941. In 1946 R. Bill Bowers, an Army captain and a 1927 UA alumnus, found the bell at the Bremerton Shipyards in Washington state. He contacted the Navy and UA officials, who then made arrangements to have the bell brought to the University. The second bell, found by Hee Primeaux, is on display in the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
UA event organizers plan to ring the bell during a Sept. 11 observance at the UA.
The new Student Union is on schedule to be complete at the end of the fall semester. When the project is done, the 400,000 square-foot center will almost double the original building that was designed to accommodate 15,000 students. This semester, more than 30,000 students will attend the UA.
A weeklong grand opening for the new center is being planed for sometime in mid February.