A Connection - Welcome

Here is an interesting link between my old High School in Virginia and Hawaii.

I first attended a couple years later in 1962 so I did not know the teacher.

Here is 2 pages from a 1958 yearbook. The 4th photo on the top page (the guy with all the medals) is a Math Teacher. He is about to retire from that, but in December he came back to Hawaii for a gathering.

Here is a bit about the gathering and why he came back to Hawaii.

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_Memorial

During and following the end of World War II, Arizona‘s wrecked superstructure was removed and efforts began to erect a memorial at the remaining submerged hull.

,,,

The Navy placed the first permanent memorial, a 10-foot (3 m)-tall basalt stone and plaque, over the mid-ship deckhouse on December 7, 1955. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the creation of a National Memorial in 1958. Enabling legislation required the memorial, budgeted at $500,000, be privately financed; however, $200,000 of the memorial cost was government subsidized.

Principal contributions to the memorial included:

$50,000 Territory of Hawaiʻi initial contribution in 1958
$95,000 privately raised following a 1958 This Is Your Life television segment featuring Rear Admiral (ret.) Samuel G. Fuqua, Medal of Honor recipient and the senior surviving officer from the Arizona
$64,000 from a March 25, 1961 benefit concert by Elvis Presley, which was his final live performance until 1968

Note that his appearance on the TV show raised more than Elvis did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2UXz5QZMUM

The full video: https://archive.org/details/this_is_your_life_samuel_g_fuqua