Well, in September 2009, my wife and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We took the tour one day of Pearl Harbor and we got to see it with our own eyes. Yesterday meant a lot more to me after being there. Watching the presentation at the museum center and then going and seeing everything was awesome.
On Dec 7th, the bombs dropped and sunk the USS Arizona . 1,177 sailors and marines died aboard her. Here is a little tidbit most people don't know. Up until Dec 25th, they heard sailors tapping on the hull to alert rescuers. For 18 days, men were trapped inside the ship before they died. I can't even imagine what that was like.
With the ship being sunk, there was no way to gain access to the trapped sailors. I never realized the harshness with which so many of our sailors died. It was tragic.
The following pictures were taken by me. This was September 2009.
This is the aerial view of the USS Arizona that i took while enjoying a helicopter tour of the island. To this day, oil is still leaking out of the wreckage. Some say she will continue to leak oil until the last survivor dies. If you are a survivor of the Arizona, upon your demise you can have your cremations inturd in the wreckage to spend eternity with your shipmates.
The only way to access the memorial is by a boat from Ford island. This is as we were approaching the memorial.
This picture says it all. To the right is the USS Arizona, were the war began. To the left is the USS Missouri, were the war ended. There is a big brass plaque on the main deck of the USS Missouri where the Japanese signed the unconditional surrender. We took the tour of the USS Missouri as well. It was awesome.
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