| Summary: | In 1962, after learning that the World War II battleship was to be scrapped, the state legislature established a commission to study the possibility of acquiring the vessel. Through the efforts of that commission and the contributions of private citizens (who raised more than $750,000 for the effort), the ship was taken to Mobile. There it was refurbished and converted into a memorial to Alabama's war veterans, which opened in January 1965. A similar image was published with an article ("Alabamians awed as grand old gal finally arrives") in the Birmingham News on September 15, 1964, with the following caption: "They Helped Start Voyage in 1962 . . . From left, McLafferty, Tyson, Thwing, St. John, Meriweather and Fox."
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