During this week's fun fact, learn about the Lone Sailor statue, a historic landmark that pays tribute to veterans and military personnel.

The Lone Sailor bronze statue gazes out to Long Beach Harbor on a blustery day. Standing proudly at Bluff Park at Ocean Boulevard and Paloma Avenue, the Lone Sailor Statue had its inception on Oct. 13, 2004, on the 229th anniversary of the United States Navy. The statue was dedicated on Dec. 11, 2004, in memory of all the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It seems quite fitting that this Lone Sailor statue would have a home in Long Beach since the city was a former Navy Town in that it was home to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

The original sculpturist of Lone Sailor, Stanley Bleifeld, has created several of these statues throughout the United States, including one in San Francisco that overlooks the bay and one at the Navy Memorial Plaza in Washington D.C., but the Lone Sailor in Long Beach is the only one that faces the actual ocean. It pays tribute to not just the entire United States Navy, but to all military personnel and is one of Long Beach’s most recognized landmarks.