Fort Miles Museum and Fort Miles Historical Association co-hosted a Summer Solstice reception June 21, 2022, for donors to the Oil Still Bleeds USS Arizona exhibit and prospective museum donors.
Mike Rawl of Horizon Philanthropic Services and Jim Pierce, Fort Miles Museum president, thanked donors who collectively contributed more than $250,000 to bring the Oil Still Bleeds exhibit to Fort Miles.
They delivered a brief overview of the museum’s three-phase expansion and the need for funding to support the Fort Miles Development Plan. This conceptual plan, prepared by GWWO Architects and Gallagher & Associates, is presented in a 76-page document completed this year.
Rawl and Pierce explained that funding will come from several sources, including the state of Delaware, foundation and corporate donors, private groups and individuals.
More than 100 attendees enjoyed Summer Solstice, which was held on the pad of the 16-inch gun barrel from the USS Missouri overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The barrel was on the ship when the Japanese surrendered to end World War II in September 1945.
The Oil Still Bleeds exhibit, at the fort through December, is a tribute to Delaware’s servicemen who were at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The exhibit’s centerpiece is a 650-pound relic from the battleship USS Arizona, which was sunk during the attack and still bleeds oil in the Hawaiian lagoon.
With the Missouri gun barrel and the Arizona relic, Fort Miles Museum marks the beginning and the end of World War II.
