Taking only one day to commemorate the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor didn't seem appropriate for the attack's 75th anniversary this year, board members of the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock decided almost a year ago.
So a committee was formed early this year and soon after began signing up partners in central Arkansas to create a weeklong commemoration for Dec. 5-11. More than 30 events or exhibits, including four movies, are planned over those days. Some will be free to the public; others will offer military discounts on admission.
The state's official Pearl Harbor commemoration will be at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 7 on the North Little Rock riverfront next to the maritime museum, east of the Main Street Bridge.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is to be the ceremony's keynote speaker. A statewide moment of silence is set for 11:55 a.m., which in the Central Time Zone is the moment the first Japanese planes attacked the U.S. Naval base in Hawaii.
The maritime museum, along the Arkansas River, displays the USS Hoga tugboat, which survived the 1941 attack, and the World War II submarine USS Razorback. The museum will extend its days and hours to be open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. during the week of remembrance, except for Dec. 7, when it will open at 9 a.m.
The Pearl Harbor committee and its five subcommittees started making plans in April and contacted potential partners. Those partners included other museums and libraries that already had Pearl Harbor or World War II exhibits or memorabilia in place, and venues that could host related events for a week of remembrance.
"It's been really nice putting all these partners together," said committee member Stephanie Slagle, communications manager for the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, who has been in charge of promoting the commemoration week. "It's a special time in our history.
"Knowing that it will be the 75th anniversary and that it would be something special, we got more partners and sponsorships to commemorate the occasion," she said. "It seemed more feasible to spread it out over more than just one day."
Related events, such as movies about Pearl Harbor and World War II, and exhibits and tours at various venues in central Arkansas will allow the anniversary to also be a learning experience for young people.
"We emailed all the local cultural institutions" about getting involved, said Allison Hiblong, the maritime museum's operations director and a member of the committee. "Some we chased after. So many museums in town already have exhibits featuring the military or World War II in general. Once we got the ball rolling, it all snowballed in a very good way. I was surprised with how many events came out of it."
A complete list of the week's events and participating sites is available online by visiting AIMMuseum.org/Schedule-of-Events.
"We were really trying to reach different age groups," Slagle said. "Some of it is educational, and some of it is appreciation. People seemed to be really excited about it.
"We're also hoping to attract people outside central Arkansas and give them a reason to stay for other than just the Dec. 7 ceremony," she said. "Have them go see more of central Arkansas and have more things to do."
The events will focus on all of World War II and not just Pearl Harbor, museum Director Greg Zonner said. Committee members have contacted veterans organizations and used social media to get the word out to veterans.
"We want to try to get as many World War II veterans as possible here," Zonner said. "If there's a World War II veteran around who's not heard about it, I'd be surprised. [Pearl Harbor] is the start of World War II. Dec. 7 is the day it actually started."
With Pearl Harbor in Hawaii being host to the national remembrance ceremony, Hiblong said she looked at its events as a guideline for what North Little Rock could do on a smaller scale.
"We wanted things for kids to do, things for youths to do, things for adults to do," Hiblong said. "Most will be during the day. We will have the Hoga's main deck available for visitors. The submarine will also be available for tours."
In preparation, Zonner and museum staff members and volunteers have been sprucing up. The outsides of the Razorback and the Hoga have been painted. New mooring lines have been installed, and an over-water walkway outside the museum was replaced after floodwaters last winter and spring damaged it.
"It takes a week to paint the boat," Zonner said. "Three weeks to get her ready to paint, with all the scraping and sanding and cleaning so we're not painting over dust."
This will be the second consecutive year for North Little Rock's maritime museum to host the statewide Pearl Harbor anniversary observance, which previously had been conducted on the state Capitol grounds.
The Hoga tugboat arrived at the museum just in time to be part of last year's ceremony, after the city waited 10 years to solve logistics and transit requirements to have the Hoga transported to North Little Rock from the California coast.
During and after the attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Hoga's crew fought fires for 72 consecutive hours and pulled survivors from the water. The tugboat also is credited with keeping the USS Nevada battleship from sinking in the harbor, which would have blocked the remaining U.S. fleet.
The Hoga was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
The Hoga's addition provided the museum with vessels from the first and last day of the U.S. involvement in World War II. The Razorback submarine was present in Tokyo Bay for the official Japanese surrender Sept. 2, 1945.
Metro on 11/28/2016