The West Virginia Division of Culture and History will open a special exhibition to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The exhibit will honor the USS West Virginia and feature artifacts from the battleship, one of nine to be destroyed on that day.
The exhibit will open with a reception at the Culture Center on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. in the Great Hall. The “75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor: USS West Virginia” will be displayed in the State Theater’s balcony gallery. The reception is free and open to the public.
The USS West Virginia was the last battleship built before World War II and was commissioned Dec. 1, 1923. She joined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor the year before the attack on Dec. 7, 1941, where she was struck by seven torpedoes and a bomb. She sank while still docked and more than 70 of her crew died, but six months later was raised, refloated and towed to dry-dock where she was repaired, fully modernized and returned to duty in mid-1944.
For more information about the opening, contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner of the division, at 304-558-0220 or Caryn.S.Gresham@wv.gov.