Not until recently have the heroic deeds of Boatswain White, been made public. For nearly a half century, the Navy survivors document giving this information has been classified confidential.

"The document and other sup-porting eyewitness accounts tell of White and his valor on that morning when hell was in session," says William D. Hunter, Scottsdale bronze sculptor and World War II historian who was given a copy of White's testimony.

"Approximately 12 minutes after the attack began on Battleship Row, the USS Arizona was virtually on the bottom of Pearl Harbor with a loss of 1,177 men. "Boatswain White performed heroically, rescuing men, saving equipment and fighting fires," Hunter continues.

"After the Arizona had been abandoned, White, soaking wet with both oil and water, noticed that the colors' had not been raised."

In the document White is quoted as saying: "Then I glanced back at the Arizona. Something appeared to be wrong. I noticed that the colors had not yet been run up."

With only the stem out of the water and under intense condi-tions, the harbor still, under attack, surrounded by fire and death, the boatswain boarded the USS Ari-zona and singlehandedly raised the American flag, Hunter relates.

"This bronze (Desperate Re-solve on Arizona) depicts White's desperate struggle to raise our nation's colors so that everyone seeing the destruction of the Arizona could take encourage-ment on that day of infamy," Hunter adds.

"The commemorative piece is- a tribute to all Americans who gave their lives on one of the darkest days of our nation's history," the artist says.

"The bronze sculpture reflects a single man's actions of valor that occurred at every post, station, field and ship that morning. It shows that in the midst of surprise, bombs, smoke, destruction, and loss of life, that the American spirit has a resolve which can be born out by individual action."

The sculpture will be on display beginning Saturday-at the Arizona State Capitol in the West Wing of the rotunda on the main floor of the executive office building, along with a model of the Arizona, the ship's silverware and other memorabilia.

The museum will be open following Pearl Harbor Day Memorial Services at Arizona's anchor in Wesley 13~pwlin Plaza.

This is not the first Pearl Harbor commemorative piece Hunter has made. He took the first Arizona flag-raising sculpture to a Pearl Harbor symposium in Austin, Texas, almost two years ago and was told by a Navy historian that the bronze was "technically incorrect."

"He told me the flag wasn't raised in the traditional manner and related the story of Thomas White," Hunter says. "It changed the entire direction of my Arizona piece and I doubled its size. I've retired the first piece as an art lesson - an expensive art lesson."

Other bronze works by Hunter are displayed in the Oval Office of the White House (Injun Joe Bauer), at the Pentagon and other key spots in the nation's capital.

His work can be seen in museums, in a major aviation gallery in Seattle and in private collections.

Desperate Resolve is part of a series on American Patriots and Heroes, which, to date, includes Medal of Honor recipients World War II flying ace Gen. Joe Foss of Scottsdale, Marine Corps pilot Lt. Col. Harold W. "Injun Joe" Bauer, and Col. James Doolitle (Launch Planes raid on Tokyo, April 18, 1941). All three men's heroic actions commemorate a date in the South Pacific Theater of War.

"Each piece is historically re-searched for accuracy to insure that our American heroes and the events surrounding their bravery are preserved and accurately chronicled in bronze," Hunter says.

Three years, ago, Hunter gave up a career as an aerospace engineer and began sculpting. Nothing in his background suggests that he would have a flare for this type of creative art. He graduated from the University of Colorado, with an aeronautical engineering degree, was a project engineer on the Titan Missile, served as Technical Director of Manned Maneuverable Spacecraft Planning for the USAF, and program manager of Tri-Service Rocket, involving a new form of propulsion. At one time he hoped to join the spacecraft team as a scientist astronaut.

"This is my full-time thing now," he says, adding that he's received some nice letters from President Bush and Secretary of the Navy Lawrence Garrett.