Honoring and remembering ‘The Forgotten Ship’

For about 15 years, Jim Taylor has organized an annual sunset memorial service to honor those who died on the USS Utah on Dec. 7, 1941. But at this year’s event, as part of the 75th anniversary commemorations, he was visibly moved by the response.

“My opening remarks could be boiled down to one word: Wow,” he said, as four Utah survivors were among the more than 200 World War II veterans, friends and family members, Navy sailors and others who attended the annual ceremony on Ford Island.

Jacqueline Ashwell, National Park Service superintendent, said the memorial pays tribute to those who were lost when Utah capsized after being struck by torpedoes.

“We gather to remember and honor their sacrifice,” Ashwell said. “It is also fitting that these 58 souls are not alone here. Over the decades, many veterans permanently returned here to Pearl Harbor, their ashes cast into the water here, surrounding the USS Utah.”

Tania Warnock wrote and performed a song — titled “The Forgotten Ship” — to honor her grandfather, David P. Smith, and his Utah crewmates. She performed the song at the memorial for the first time on Tuesday evening.

Smith died in 2008 and his ashes returned to Utah two years later. “I didn’t want the ship to be forgotten — that was really the whole purpose behind it,” Warnock said of her song. “It felt surreal (to play it). I have been out here for about a week and have played several gigs but this is the one that really mattered. This has been really spiritual for me knowing that he is out here with the men that he really loved.”

And it’s those kinds of sentiments that drove Taylor to start creating the memorial as a way to remember Utah and its men. He had performed burials for the Navy but was concerned that Utah and its crew were not being properly recognized.

About 15 years ago, he began by making sure that a walkway would allow visitors to get closer to Utah — and to properly lay wreaths, as several groups did during Tuesday’s service. Taylor has also worked to generate attention for the Utah sunset service. “I created this ceremony because the USS Utah is realistically not very well known.”

The community of USS Utah family members appreciates Taylor’s commitment.

Pamela Calavan Becerra said her father, Cecil Calavan, was 17 when the Japanese attacked. At first, he and a fellow sailor weren’t sure whether they should remove their shoes before they jumped in the water. “So nothing was penetrating at first,” she says, pointing to her head. “Can you imagine?”

Cecil always knew he wanted to be laid to rest with the Utah. “This is what he loved,” Pamela said. “We wanted to honor him. It was more of us wanting to honor him and the legacy that he left. We want to honor the 58 men who died that day. They left us something and we want to keep it alive.

“That’s our goal to work with Jim and to help ensure that it is not the forgotten ship.”