Rep. Steve Knight has this past year encouraged the betterment of our nation’s heritage and its historical presentation that has been under the radar to those in his district. I thought it best to reach out to the other areas of the 25th Congressional District, too.
As a retired 30-year U.S. Navy naval aviator, veteran and amateur historian, I approached Congressman Knight last year with concerns about the National Park Service’s historical presentation at Pearl Harbor, “World War II Valor in the Pacific,” more commonly referred to as the USS Arizona Memorial. It has, on display since a 2008 rehabilitation project, four errors of historical inaccuracies that through lack of attention to detail and responsiveness have remained in place despite my solo efforts to get them fixed. Congressman Knight’s involvement now has those being fixed and underway to resolving this over 10-year unsatisfactory status.
But through this involvement, something even better of late has become a potential improvement as well, that being a larger, much improved and more comprehensive historical display of the Pearl Harbor attack, World War II in the Pacific and our nation’s emergence as a post-isolationist superpower above and beyond the very limited status quo now at Pearl Harbor and the island of Oahu. A new fledgling effort is underway in part thanks to Congressman Knight’s interest and involvement with the secretary of the interior, who oversees our national parks, and the U.S. Navy.
This constituent is well satisfied with Congressman Knight and would like to see his continuing support in these efforts. I encourage all to support him in return this election cycle.
Charles Gillman
Simi Valley
