In January 2011, the Hawaii Regional Cabinet and WU Club hosted a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu.
Of the university faculty, staff and alumni attending, Thomas Lum, BSAE ’51, was a special guest. Lum, who was the sole structural engineer for the memorial, had not been back to the site in 40 years. During the event, he shared how his firm, then called Park and Yee, was integral to the development of the memorial over the USS Arizona: from bringing concrete and other materials out on barges, to never touching the Arizona during construction. As structural engineer, Lum worked with the architects and did all the computations. He also supervised preparation of the construction drawings, and during the initial phase of construction, he supervised the pile driving operations — the infrastructure that supports the 50-year-old memorial.
“I had been associated with Pearl Harbor for many years — ever since World War II,” Lum says in a thank you letter to the event’s organizers. “I worked weekends as a teenager, because of the extreme labor shortage, and saw many damaged warships returning to the shipyard for repairs. I later worked as a naval architect for a few years and was responsible for the structural integrity of naval vessels during overhauls. Then, I was sent to graduate school at [the University of California] Berkeley to study naval ship design, particularly submarines. Afterward, I was transferred to Washington, D.C., where I worked on the design of the first Polaris Missile submarine, some are presently stationed at Pearl Harbor. Later, as a consultant, I designed the docking fenders for the submarines at Pearl Harbor. The tour certainly brought back all the memories of yesteryear.”
Also attending the event were School of Engineering Dean Ralph Quatrano, PhD, and his wife, Lee Anne; Kaili, BSBA ’89, and Kevin O’Connell, AB ’89 (and their three children); Yoneo Sagawa, AB ’50, MA ’52; Ann Sack Shaver, AB ’70; David Shores, BSBA ’67; and Kyle Woerner, BSSSE ’04.
Woerner, then-aide to the rear admiral at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, helped members of Alumni & Development Programs organize the day’s activities. The group first toured the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, which houses details behind the attacks at Pearl Harbor during World War II. Embarking on one of the admiral’s barges — an open-air pontoon boat — the group departed from Ford Island on its way to the ArizonaMemorial, enjoying a private, narrated tour.
The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed during the attack. Dedicated in 1962, the memorial will celebrate its 50th anniversary next spring. Lum has been invited to a special anniversary celebration commemorating the memorial in May 2012. Lum and his wife were special guests at the 70th Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration, Dec. 7, 2011. They were among the more than 5,000 attendees.
For more information on upcoming Regional Cabinet and WU Club events, visit http://aisweb.wustl.edu/Alumni/AlumniPF.nsf.
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