Many of you had contacted Operation 85 about what representation family would have at the Memorial for the upcoming December 7th ceremony. It was your calls and emails that prompted us to to look into whether we could send a wreath on behalf of our family members to the Memorial. Wreath Donation requests were required to be submitted no later than November 13th according to the website and our request was sent in on November 10th.

Board members of The Operation 85 Foundation, a separate nonprofit 501(c)(3), established to support U.S.S. Arizona families and preserve the crew’s history, approved $700 to send one wreath to Pearl Harbor to represent over 1,400 family members at the December 7th ceremony.

Kevin Kline, Operation 85’s Executive Director and grandnephew of a U.S.S. Arizona sailor among the dead and missing below the Memorial, submitted a request to Tom Leatherman, Superintendent of the National Park Service at Pearl Harbor to allow this one family wreath to be placed on the Memorial instead of onshore, and if possible, to allow just one family member to be present — no changes to the ceremony, no disruption, simply one symbolic wreath over the resting place of our loved ones graves.

After Kline’s second followup request, the Superintendent eventually denied the placement of the wreath, noting that he had already made a decision to limit the space to have only four wreaths placed on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial: his own National Park Service wreath, the U.S. Navy, the State of Hawaii, and a private NGO that supports the Park Service. He stated that placing additional wreaths could pose “structural” and “preservation” concerns and mentioned that “many family groups” had been denied similar requests — though no other U.S.S. Arizona family groups were identified when asked to clarify. The Superintendent offered instead to place the wreath “in a prominent place onshore.”

The Superintendent also shared that the ceremony planning began six months ago, and that our request to lay the wreath arrived in early November. However, as noted above, our wreath donation request arrived on time. Also, while we respect the complexities of coordinating such an important ceremony, it is important to note that the Superintendent and the Park Service have been aware of OP85’s family outreach and progress for over three years, yet no invitations or opportunities for family involvement were ever extended to us during that planning period. We simply did not know there was a timeline for discussing wreath placement other than what was published on the official website. And we assumed such a request from the families to have the wreath placed on the Memorial was not an unreasonable one.

OP85 politely asked for reconsideration, but the Superintendent responded that we should “respect his decision” and that if we escalate this any further, it would make any future collaboration with him “not worth his time,” depending on “if that’s how you [Kevin Kline] do business.”

No one could have predicted that our request to lay one wreath on the memorial would have been denied in such a way. We apologize to the families who were upset or are disappointed by this decision from the Superintendent, and we will continue working to ensure families of the U.S.S. Arizona are respected, heard, and included at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and future December 7th ceremonies.

SIDEBAR: Why We Chose to Share This With You

Operation 85 believes that families deserve transparency — especially when decisions directly affect our ability to honor our loved ones. Our intention in sharing this information is not to create conflict, but to ensure that families understand what was requested, how respectfully it was made, and why it was denied. We remain committed to cooperation with all agencies involved and hope that future conversations will create more opportunities for meaningful family representation at the Memorial. We also hope that if planning for the 85th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor begins 6 months prior, that the National Park Service and its planning partners will invite Operation 85 and its large family representation to the table to ensure true family representation is in place while honoring the U.S.S. Arizona and its crew.

Note: This update reflects factual information and direct correspondence regarding the wreath-placement request for the December 7th ceremony. It is shared solely to keep families informed and to maintain transparency. Operation 85 respects the roles of all agencies involved and remains committed to collaborating professionally and constructively. While we strongly disagree with the Superintendent’s decision, we remain committed to cooperating with the National Park Service in good faith and appreciate the responsibility and complexity of managing the December 7th ceremonies.