NATIONAL MONUMENTS:
President Bush has asked his defense and interior
>> secretaries to look into designating Pearl Harbor and other historic
>> World
>> War II sites in the Pacific a national monument. A 29 MAY presidential
>> memo to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Interior Secretary Dirk
>> Kempthorne said such status could offer the sites additional
protection.
>> "These objects of historical and scientific interest may tell the
broader
>> story of the war, the sacrifices made by America and its allies, and
the
>> heroism and determination that laid the groundwork for victory in the
>> Pacific and triumph in World War II," Bush said. The letter,
posted on
>> the
>> White House Web site, doesn't say what specific places Bush has in mind
>> aside from Pearl Harbor. Parts of the naval base which are already
under
>> some form of protection or have historic designation. The USS Arizona,
an
>> underwater grave for over 1,100 sailors and Marines unable to escape
the
>> ship before it sank during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack, is
>> currently
>> part of the USS Arizona Memorial run by the National Park Service. Ford
>> Island, where several of the Navy's battleships were moored during the
>> attack, is a National Historic Landmark. The island, located at the
>> center
>> of Pearl Harbor, is home to historic airplane hangers that survived the
>> aerial assault. A red and white striped airplane control tower on Ford
>> Island delivered the first radio broadcast of the attack. Next door to
>> Pearl Harbor, the top Air Force commander in the Pacific today has his
>> headquarters in a building that served as barracks for Army airmen in
>> 1941. Bullet holes left by Japanese machine guns are still visible on
the
>> outside of the structure's concrete walls.
>>
>> Outside Hawaii, crucial battles were fought at
Midway, Wake and Guam
>> islands. All are still U.S. territory. Today, Midway is mainly a
wildlife
>> bird refuge and key node in the island chain making up the
>> Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument that Bush established in
2006.
>> The former naval base, where the U.S. defeated Japan in June 1942 to
turn
>> the tide of World War II in the Pacific, was named a National Historic
>> Landmark in 1986. Many areas - particularly Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air
>> Force
>> Base, and Guam - that would likely be eligible for inclusion in the
>> monument are still actively used today by the U.S. military. Making
them
>> part of a monument could complicate daily operations for the services.
>> But
>> Bush's memo told Gates and Kempthorne that national monument
>> classification shouldn't interfere with the military's business. The
>> Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the president the authority to make
>> national
>> monuments of "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric
structures,
>> and
>> other objects of historic or scientific interest." The president
doesn't
>> need Congressional approval to do designate monuments. Other national
>> monuments include the Statue of Liberty, designated by Calvin Coolidge
in
>> 1924, and the Grand Canyon, made a national monument by Herbert Hoover
in
>> 1932. [Source: Navy Times AP Audrey McAvoy article posted 1 Jun 08 ++]