A photo of the USS Arizona which was preserved by Lowell and Wendy Franklin PC: Fox 11 Online
HOBART, WI (WTAQ – WLUK) — Mementos from an old U.S. Navy battleship have been uncovered in Hobart.
It’s a snapshot into the USS Arizona.
Pictures, newspapers and other documents help tell the story of the ship, which was destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
“I knew there was some good stuff in there, or had to be, and I looked at it not too long ago, and I thought, well this really should be in a museum,” said 78-year-old Lowell Franklin.
He and his wife, Wendy, recently went through the items belonging to his father while cleaning out their home.
“As Lowell was digging in some boxes one day, I could hear him getting choked up downstairs and I went down and realized what he was going through,” said Wendy.
Lowell’s father, Arthur, served on the battleship as a member of the U.S. Navy.
Lowell, who is battling Alzheimer’s disease, says he enjoyed going through each item to learn more about his father’s time in the military.
“He loved life, always a smile on his face,” said Lowell.
Arthur worked in the ship’s print shop and kept samples of his work, including a Thanksgiving menu for the crew.
He was honorably discharged just months before the attack.
But Arthur would quickly rejoin following the bombing.
“The day after Pearl Harbor, he went down and reenlisted for another four years,” said Wendy.
With many items in good shape, like Arthur’s USS Arizona hat, the Franklins are working to make sure they will be on display.
The couple plans on donating the materials to the University of Arizona.
“It’s kind of a personal mission for us to get out there and make sure that it gets into the right hands of somebody that obviously will treasure it as much as we do, but preserve it for the rest of the world,” said Wendy.
They’re leaving later this week for Tucson to meet with the curator of the University’s USS Arizona collection.
“This was a gift from generations ago to us today, and the story just has to be told,” said Wendy.
For the Franklins, they just want to make sure history is remembered.
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