These anchors and bell are preserved here as a memorial to a valiant ship, the U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre. CL 103 was a 10,000-ton Cleveland Class Cruiser, launched December 24, 1943, commissioned July 1, 1944, and attached to the Pacific Fleet, Cruiser Division Seventeen.
Becoming a part of Task Force 18, Third Fleet, the cruiser took part in bombardments against the enemy at French Indo-China, China, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan. During the Okinawa Campaign, the U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre aided the stricken carrier U.S.S. Bunker Hill and gained credit for saving the carrier.
The U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre received word of the enemy surrender, while off Hokkaido and entered Tokyo Bay to cover the landing of American Troops.
The U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre was decommissioned on October 9, 1947.
This monument was erected in 1971 under the auspices of Mr. Oscar Weissman and the N.E. Pennsylvania Council of the Navy League of the United States.
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