"Book Ends"

It took some 3.5 years to accomplish.  It all started when a Phoenix worker and history buff ran across a story about the last big gun from the USS Arizona.  The Navy had this gun, the last one in storage on the east coast.  In talking to the AZ Secretary of State they both agreed that it should be included in the Arizona Memorial in down-town Phoenix where the Ship's Bell and Mast-Head were on display.  The wheels were put in motion and plans were made to get it to Arizona.  Then the Navy told them that they had guns from the USS Missouri as well.   The Navy finally agreed to let Phoenix have the remaining gun from the Arizona as well as one of the guns from the Missouri.  The USS Missouri was the site of the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, ending WWII.
The huge task of moving the huge guns across country to the Memorial was done with all private donations and volunteers, no Tax money at all. They arrived in Phoenix, were installed in the Plaza with the Ships Bell and Masthead, and dedicated on December 7, 2013, Pearl Harbor day.  They are known as "The Books-Ends of the war", one at the beginning and one at the end.  How fitting.