Learn about the USS Oklahoma Memorial in the first of a new web series featuring Park Ranger Jason Ockrassa. Jason will take you to significant sites all over the island of Oahu and explain exactly what happened in those locations during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, and beyond. Some of those sites include Hickam Field, Ford Island, Wheeler Field, Schofield Barracks, the location of the Opana Mobile Radar Station, all the sites for each of the battleships and their memorials, and many more. For many of these sites, Jason will feature a personal story of someone who died in the conflict or survived to tell their story.
Park Ranger Jason Ockrassa takes us to Ford Island, Hanger 54 (very near Hanger 6, the first building hit on Ford Island) and the seaplane ramp. This area is where Pearl Harbor Survivor Chuck Kohler was located on the morning of December 7, 1941. Chuck was one of many service members who was able to fight back during the attack. Here Jason explains what Chuck did that morning.
Watch as Park Ranger Jason Ockrassa takes you to the USS Utah Memorial, located on Ford Island. The USS Utah was a target ship on the opposite side of Ford Island to Battleship Row, but it was hit by torpedoes early on in the Pearl Harbor attack and very quickly capsized. Fifty-eight USS Utah crew members died. Although the ship was partially righted, it was not salvaged, and the USS Utah today lays where she fell.
Park Ranger Jason Ockrassa talks about the USS California, where it was located during the Pearl Harbor attack, and what its crewmembers experienced on December 7, 1941. One crew member, Benjamin Smith, was presumed dead after being knocked unconscious, only to regain consciousness 40 feet underwater. Listen as Jason tells the story of how Benjamin made it to safety.
