What And Where Is The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument?

A monument is a building or a statue that is built to honour and acknowledge a special person or specific events that are of significant importance to the history of a nation. These history based structures usually contain information concerning the history of the individual or event to be commemorated. The history is sometimes engraved in stone or represented in the form of exhibit galleries, and souvenirs from the past.

World War II Valor in the Pacific Monument

The World War II Valor in the Pacific Monument is a national monument in the United States of America that was established to honour the people, occurrences, and sites of the Pacific war during the Second World War. The testimonial was a way to interpret and preserve the tales of what happened during the war. Some of the stories include the events at Pearl Harbour, the battles in the Aleutians, the imprisonment of Japanese Americans, the occupation of Japan.

This monument comprises nine sites which as distributed across three states of the US: Hawaii, Alaska, and California.

Hawaii Monument

This monument is located on Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. Its key purpose was to remind visitors of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese fleets which occurred on December 7, 1941. The scenic sites that make up the monument include Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, the Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows, USS Arizona Memorial and Visitor Centre, the USS Utah Memorial, and the USS Oklahoma Memorial. The memories here are preserved majorly through exhibits of photographs and videos, and a chance to experience the memorial through navy-operated boat rides. There are two gallery exhibits entitled “Attack” and “Road to War” within the monument. More exhibits referred to as “Interpretive Wayside Exhibits” are distributed throughout the monument.The monument has a Remembrance Circle gallery, dedicated to all those who lost their lives during the war. The Remembrance Circle contains a list of names of all the recipients of the Medal of Honor and a three-dimensional map of Oahu which shows various attack sites during the attack. It also has a theatre that gives a 23-minute documentary about the Pearl Harbour attack.

Alaska Monument

The Alaska monument is home to three sites of significant heritage. The first site is on Attu Island. The remnants of the Battle of Attu act as a historical monument for the Americans as they commemorate the battle between the US and the empire of Japan in 1943. The second site is on Kiska Island. This site is a reminder of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Kiska Island that occurred between 1942 and 1943 during the World War II. The third site is on Atka Island. Atka Island is the largest Island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It contains the crash site for the Atka B – 24D Liberator, which was crashed deliberately on December 9, 1942, when it couldn't land at any nearby airfield as a result of adverse weather conditions.

California Monument

The Tule Lake Unit monument in California was initially “Tule Lake War Relocation Centre” used to imprison Japanese Americans who had been evicted from their homes. It was renamed to “Tule Lake Segregation Centre” in 1943 and used as a maximum security prison. After the war, it was used to hold Japanese Americans awaiting deportation to Japan. In 2006 the campsite was designated as a historical landmark and enlisted as part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific monument by President George W. Bush.