For the rest of that day, as the Arizona to settle into the harbor, its flag, at could be seen flying in defiance.

Scottsdale sculptor Bill Hunter has White's act of heroism in a 125 pound bronze that will have its official unveiling at the Arizona Memorial on Saturday in Pearl Harbor.

The $20,000 piece tells the story of White's struggle under horrifying conditions, to do what he considered his duty.

That story was only recently uncovered in a Navy survivor's document that had been under lock and key more than 40 years.

Why this was classified confidential I'll never know " Hunter said. "That's enough to get it thrown into a locked cabinet and never come out"

If Hunter had known of White's story earlier, it would have saved him a costly art lesson.

Because he specializes in sculpting heroes because he served in the Navy himself, Hunter originally created a bronze showing two sailors hoisting the flag. At the time, not much was known about how the flag was raised, since almost all aboard the ship perished.

But soon Hunter was told that wasn't the way the flag went up that day. Priding himself on historical accuracy Hunter obtained a copy of White's declassified statement and went to work on his current piece.

In the statement White begins with the air raid siren sounding, First he cleared the quarterdeck of sightseers and then he began closing the starboard side quarterdeck, hatches that had been opened for a pending inspection.

White next went to his battle station in the gun pits of turret 3 when almost immediately there was a huge explosion in the forward part of the ship.

He and others were directed to fight the fires topside, but the explosion had knocked out the water mains and the fire hoses were useless.

Next, White ran to the engine room below deck to try to aid the Marines there but was stopped by a wall of fire fed by the oil-soaked water flooding the compartment.

Back on deck, he noticed a burning awning that had been set up for shade. Fearing it would collapse and burn people, White grabbed a knife and cut the canvas down.

Finally orders came to abandon ship. White manned the captain's gig after struggling to free it from the starboard quarterboom, which was pinning it down as the Arizona sank.

From then on, White patrolled between Arizona's mooring and the shipyard piers rescuing men from the water and depositing them at Ford Island.

White's tale continues. in his own words in the document: "Then as I glanced back at the Arizona something appeared to be wrong. I noticed the Colors had not yet been run up. I returned to the ship to run up the Colors. When I had completed running up the Colors I started-looking for any dead or injured persons lying around on the quarterdeck. . . but there were none"

White eventually headed across the channel and was strafed on the crossing, ,but luckily I was not hit.

White's actions have since been confirmed by his division officer, Ensign Jim D. Miller.

Hunter has been searching for White for months, even enlisting the aid of the Navy. Unfortunately, White seem to have disappeared without a trace and without any recognition for his actions.

"I think White should have had a pretty significant medal - I mean, he was a hero. He was in the water, he was out of the water, he was putting out fires, he saved the captain's gig from sinking. He rescued people off of the ship and from out of the water, and then he came back and raised the flag.