Elvis and the USS Arizona

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Support for this program also made possible by... 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.

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 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, 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 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.

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.

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 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 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, 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.

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.

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.

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 [ 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 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 lam 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 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 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.

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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