The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community announced the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River is open.

The USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River honors the individuals that served aboard the USS Arizona that sank on Dec. 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It pays tribute to the individuals aboard the ship that day; sharing their stories, their efforts and their sacrifice.

The memorial is in the Talking Stick Entertainment District at 7455 N. Pima Road between Salt River Fields at Talking Stick and Great Wolf Lodge. It is open daily from dawn to dusk with the relic room being open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Salt River Indian Community became the recipient of a large part of the superstructure of the USS Arizona (BB-39), identified as the original boat house, and built the gardens around it in six months, according to a press release.

The Boat House relic was part of the original memorial built at Pearl Harbor in 1951 and is the largest and only piece ever given to a tribal community.

A dedication ceremony for the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens was Friday, Feb. 21. Several dignitaries were in attendance at the ceremony including Sen. Martha McSally; Cmdr. John C. Collins, Commanding Officer of the Naval Operations Support Center in Phoenix; Word War II veteran Bob Aguilar; and Pearl Harbor survivor Jack Holder who turned the switch to officially illuminate the Gardens

“It is a great honor that the land of the O’odham [Pima] and Piipaash [Maricopa] is now the permanent home to the Boat House relic of the USS Arizona,” Martin Harvier, SRPMIC president, said in a prepared statement.

“The USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River as a whole, honors all those who were aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and all military veterans who have served our great country.“

In 2007, SRPMIC and the American Legion Bushmaster Post 114 received an American flag flown over the USS Arizona Memorial. Today, the flag is kept at the American Legion Bushmaster post with an annual “Breathing of the Flag Ceremony” that takes place during the SRPMIC Pearl Harbor Day event as a tribute to all those who lost their life at Pearl Harbor.

The receiving of a retired flag started a journey that will change the landscape of the SRPMIC and Arizona, the community claims in a release.

The USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River spans the exact length and width of the USS Arizona with over 1,500 commemorative columns, representing all those aboard the ship on Dec. 7, 1941.

There are also gaps within the column outline representing an individual who survived the attack. As the day ends, each column illuminates, transforming the memorial at night representing each individual as a light and their light will continue to go on and stand through the test of time. The project extends across the entry drive of Salt River Fields to the north and juts into the lake on the south.

The contemplative Memorial Gardens sit to the north of the Memorial Building with a layout based off a ship’s vertical mast to commemorate the highly decorated USS Arizona. Additional commemorative columns line pathways in the garden with each path ending at a flagpole representing each branch of the U.S. military. Along the pathways are benches engraved with quotations from individuals who experienced firsthand the events of December 7, 1941, and the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Gardens are open daily from dawn until dusk and is open and free to the public. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is proud to honor all Veterans and takes pride in sharing the stories of some of those aboard the USS Arizona at the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River.