Section 1:

In early 2008, I purchased this blue 2009 Harley-Davidson Cross Bones from Las Vegas Harley. At first, I bought it hoping to enter in Veteran fundraiser rides and other biker related events.

The new 2009 Cross Bones at Red Rock Canyon National Park just west of Las Vegas. Within a year, it went from stock to show-stopper

Fresh out of the rebuild, Metal of Honor was born in May of 2009.

Let’s walk through “The Build” from start to finish.

A short story to set the scene. I had been working for the past couple of years on a coffee table-type book of photographs entitled: “Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember”

This book showcases dozens of the many thousands of photos I had taken by then of the Pearl Harbor Survivors, at numerous parades, memorial services and Veteran events, across the San Diego and Las Vegas region including twice attending the huge 60th and 65th anniversaries of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu in 2001, and 2006.

For those interested, here’s a short YouTube video showing some of the photos of Pearl Harbor Survivors I’ve taken over the years. It’s a snapshot of what the book will look like.

YouTube clip:

Soon after purchasing the Harley, I attended the huge weeklong Biketoberfest (now called Bikefest) motorcycle convention in downtown Las Vegas.

While walking through the vast number of vendor booths, something caught my eye. Anytime I see a POW/MIA emblem or other military imagery, I have to stop and check it out. And that’s how I first met Sandi Steiner, Master Engraver at Chrome Fusion, a Las Vegas-based motorcycle parts engraving company.

This image of a finished gas tank created by Chrome Fusion shows the beautiful detail of their trademark engraving process. If you look closely, the line of demarcation between the painted areas and the chromed engraving is spectacularly precise. Almost too perfect to believe it was created by hand.

While chatting with Sandi, I mentioned the Pearl Harbor Survivor book project I was working on, and being a Vietnam Veteran, Sandi needed no explanation of Pearl Harbor history and its impact on America. And somewhere during that conversation, the idea was born to transform that brand new stock Harley into what I termed a “Rolling History Lesson”.

Sandi and his wife Joyce as we work out the final details on starting the engraving process.

The bike now sitting in Chrome Fusion’s shop in Las Vegas. Where to begin?

A new gas tank was purchased to provide a clean slate to commence the engraving.

No previous thought had been put into how this project would evolve. It simply boiled-down to “Ok, on the right side of the tank, what will fit here?”

And of course, the USS Arizona battleship (BB-39) punctuates the most catastrophic loss of life during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The images are, from left to right, Arizona at sea in the 1930’s, an image of the ship after it was destroyed in the attack, and the USS Arizona Memorial as seen today. 1,177 Sailors and Marines were killed in one horrific explosion on the morning of December 7th, 1941.

This image shows the near-final design layout, with a banner that will say “USS Arizona BB-39” and “1177 Souls Lost” and “Killed in Action”. Hibiscus flowers decorate the perimeter for the tank.

Another angle on the tank. Each image was first printed on paper, then the ink was transferred directly to the metal surface via a chemical process.

The left side of the gas tank would be a bit different. Given that I had the incredible honor to become friends with Medal of Honor Recipient John W. Finn, considered the “first Medal of Honor of World War 2” I thought honoring him would be something really special. Pictured here on the left is the photo of Aviation Ordnance Chief Petty Officer Finn from the National Archive. In the center is a copy of John’s actual Medal that I photographed in his hotel room in Waikiki during the 65th anniversary events. On the right is where the image of the Medal’s reverse side will be shown, complete with the engraved Medal of Honor Citation.

This is a photo of John’s Medal of Honor. The imagery on the Medal is of the Goddess Minerva holding back the serpent-fisted Discord, aka, Chaos with her Shield of the Republic. An owl on her helmet symbolizes wisdom. The bundled axe in her left hand symbolizes lawful authority of the government.

The reverse side of John’s Medal is hand engraved with his official MOH Citation, and easily legible.

Of course, I knew immediately that I had no right to place John’s image on this bike unless I had his full approval for the project.

Soon after completing the initial design concepts, I traveled to John’s home in the high desert east of San Diego to provide an in-person overview of the project as well as requesting his permission to proceed. Seen here, the photo binder sits on John’s coffee table as we went over the details of the project.

John, being a life-long motorcycle enthusiast, absolutely loved the idea.

While discussing the motorcycle, John just had to pull out an old photo of he and his wife Alice (RIP) who also loved riding with John on his bike.

Alice and John Finn enjoying the day on his BMW motorcycle.

This photo hanging on John’s living room wall, is now famous in online history, military and motorcycle forums across the Internet. John and Alice out for a moto ride. A truly iconic shot of the Great American World War 2 War Hero and his beautiful sweetheart.

For the record. Me with John and his wonderful longtime caretaker, Frances Carmichael. It has always amazed me how this aging hero, who lived such an otherwise rustic and secluded life on a giant ranch in the high desert, would have to deal with the President of the United States or the US Navy calling on a regular basis to arrange air travel plans to the next major American function where living Medal of Honor Recipients were guests of honor.

The rest of article is under construction and will be updated every couple days with MANY more photos and stories.

End Section 1

SECTION 2

Sandi’s son Jason makes some final touches on the gas tank prior to commencing the engraving process.

Now that the tank design was laid out, the rest of the bike just seemed to fall into place.

As we created the artwork for the rear fender, Sandi created a scroll with a hibiscus flower design to hold the text: “Dedicated to the 2,403 Americans killed at Pearl Harbor, and the Survivors of the attack on the Island of Oahu, T.H. December 7th, 1941”

Other imagery on the rear fender is best seen after the bike is finished. (see below)

The shape of the front fender seemed to say… “V” for Victory!!!… So it was.

The fender bracket says “Remember Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941”

Not wanting to wait until this initial layout was complete, the engraving process began immediately.

Sandi and Joyce prepare the engraving tools and workstation prior to commencing the tank work.

Sandi used various engraving tools, pneumatic as well as hand chisels.

Sandi Steiner, owner of Chrome Fusion deep in concentration. As my Dad used to say, “A true pleasure in life is to watch a master craftsman at work.”

A true family business, son Jason continues the intricate detailing work after Sandi completed the major imagery portions.

The finished Medal of Honor image prior to the chroming process.

Over those many months, more finished engraved parts allowed us to see the entire vision coming together

Front fender engraving complete

The iconic “Remember Pearl Harbor” cursive script fit perfectly with the graceful shape of the Vance & Hines exhaust pipes.

And of course, hibiscus flowers seemed to be the perfect accent to remind us of the Hawaiian link to American history.

Rear fender tribute piece with the Hawaiian island chain, and scroll of the major ships destroyed during the attack is ready for chroming.

Ships listed on rear fender:

• USS Arizona
• USS West Virginia
• USS Tennessee
• USS Oklahoma
• USS Maryland
• USS California
• USS Nevada
• USS Pennsylvania
• USS Oglala
• USS Cassin
• USS Downs
• USS Shaw
• USS Raleigh
• USS Helena

The finished drivebelt guard has the famous quote: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve – Isoroku Yamamoto”. Yamamoto was the Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral who planned the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

To the right of John Finn’s Medal of Honor is an image of the Medal’s reverse, complete with a copy of the engraved text from his Medal Citation which reads:

Awarded to John W. Finn, Aviation Ordnanceman, USN, For extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty when with telling effect he manned an unprotected machine gun in the face of heavy enemy fire in the Japanese aerial attack on Kaneohe Bay T.H. on December 7, 1941, and although painfully wounded continued the action against the enemy attacking planes.

There are far too many other engraved images, facts or figures to list at this time, so I’ll move ahead to the next phase of the build, the chroming process.

As the chromed pieces returned to Chrome Fusion, Sandi’s wife Joyce hand-painted various text and flower engravings with gold or other colors.

This small right side engine cover item is nearly completely hidden behind the exhaust pipes, so I’ll explain it here. It is trimmed with hibiscus flowers, and on the upper section is the text “Punchbowl Cemetery”, the common name for the National Cemetery of the Pacific, located in an extinct volcano overlooking Honolulu, HI. The center text tries to recreate the multiple grave markers at Punchbowl that say only “Unknown, Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941.”

Over the years, the POW/MIA Accounting Office has been able to DNA identify most, if not all the previously unknown human remains from December 7th, and full military burial honors were bestowed upon them.

Photo taken at Punchbowl Cemetery during the 60th anniversary in 2001 of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I had the incredible honor to be the San Diego Pearl Harbor Survivors Association Chapter photographer at the time, and was invited to join the Survivors on their trip to Oahu. After the bike is auctioned, I’ll focus on completing my work on “Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember”, an extensive photo essay covering the more than 36,000 photos I took over the 12 years working with the Survivors.

END SECTION 2: Section 3 will cover paint and final build

The Build: (Section 3)

The Remember Pearl Harbor Tribute Motorcycle

Dana F Harbaugh

Aug 24, 2026

(This section covers the paint and rebuilding processes)

Only three major components were fully painted. The gas tank and the front and rear fenders. This process began with chroming the three parts, then covering all engraved areas with a liquid masking tape. The process of removing the masking material from the areas to be painted was almost like a closely held proprietary secret.

But needless to say, exquisite attention-to-detail was used in trimming the excess material away from the engraved images.

Seeing the finished work is crucial in understanding how amazing this whole process was.

As for the final paint color, a brilliant white with a blue flake, as seen in this paint sample seemed the only answer.

Master painting specialist Dwight Purcell, of Purcell’s Customs prepping the product.

Jumping ahead, the masking material was removed after the paint was applied, and then 8 coats of clear were added for a beautiful finish.

Finished rear fender

Rarely noticed, the rear portion of the front fender has the front and reverse imagery of the official Pearl Harbor Survivor Congressional Medal and trimmed with hibiscus flowers.

Sandi and Joyce had been trying to tell me for months that the finished bike would be incredible to see, and I really didn’t understand that until I saw the final product. Just spectacular.

I’ll explain the history of the two hula girls performing for John when I get to the photos of the completed motorcycle.

The blue ribbon on the Medal of Honor is the only non-white painted portion of the bike.

Time to put it all back together

The bike was sent out to Arlen Ness Motorcycles on the east side of Las Vegas.

And forgive me, I can’t remember the name of the master motorcycle mechanic who was chosen to rebuild the bike.

The cylinder head covers are hard to see on the finished bike. Hibiscus flowers decorate the edges

Also hard to see on the forward section of the finished cylinder head is the Hawaiian Territorial Flag prior to Hawaiian statehood.

This right-side engine cover plate is mostly hidden behind the flowing Vance & Hines exhaust pipes. The “hidden unknown” killed at Pearl Harbor has a poetic sense to it.

Also on the right side is this cover plate with the Purple Heart Medal topped with “Keep America Alert”.

The rear fender and struts installed. The main image is of the USS Ward (DD-139) at sea out off the harbor entrance the morning of the attack, chasing the Japanese mini submarine that was attempting to enter Pearl Harbor. Both struts have engravings of the names numerous smaller bases and units stationed around the island of Oahu.

The master mechanic gets help from his assistant to install the finished gas tank.

Exhaust pipes installed, and nearing the end of the rebuilding evolution

Topping-off the oil.

The completed left side of the engine. Absolutely spectacular.

Nearly ready to pull the bike off the work stand. The hand-tooled leather seat was created by Shirley Zanelli of Bad Ass Seats in Las Vegas.

The master mechanic and I guide this newborn beauty off of the motorcycle lift.

“Metal of Honor” was born 19 May 2009.

The pride of the master mechanic seeing his hard work ready for the road

And I’m in shock at how beautiful it turned out. I had no idea it would be so spectacular.

A VERY proud papa. Time to go for a spin and see if anyone likes it.

Thank you to the entire crew at Arlen Ness Motorcycles for helping bring Metal of Honor to life.

(End of “The Build”)

Next: “The Events”… And an invitation to appear at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as countless other bike shows, parades, memorial services and Veteran fundraisers, Metal of Honor hits the road.