Friday evening sunset from in front of my home.
I grew up in Arizona and this day holds a special meaning to me.
I grew up in Arizona and this day holds a special meaning to me.
Friday, December 7, 1941 was the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor
Honolulu, Hawaii.
The event of this day led the United States direct involvement in World War II.
The USS Arizona battleship was sunk by a armor piercing bomb during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
If you have ever seen any movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor they will always show the USS Arizona engulfed in smoke, listing and sinking. It is a sadly striking image.
It only took 9 minutes for the battleship to sink.
That is why so many of the sailors were never able to escape
.
The USS Arizona memorial is built over the wreckage of the battleship USS Arizona.
This serves as a last resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors who where killed on the battleship.
The memorial straddles the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it.
and is only accessible by boat.
and is only accessible by boat.
I have visited the memorial and it is very beautiful in it simplicity.
The effect of the white memorial surrounded by very blue water exactly where
it was sunk is very touching.
As I stood there surrounded by the sunshine, soft breezes on that beautiful morning,
it was and still is very hard for me to imagine what happened on another quiet
beautiful morning 71 years ago.
The effect of the white memorial surrounded by very blue water exactly where
it was sunk is very touching.
As I stood there surrounded by the sunshine, soft breezes on that beautiful morning,
it was and still is very hard for me to imagine what happened on another quiet
beautiful morning 71 years ago.
Of the two ships bells, one is in the visitors center and the other is in the clock tower at the Student Memorial Center at the University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona
The USS Missouri was moved to Pearl Harbor and the bow of that battleship now faces, from a distance, the Arizona memorial. This was done to convey that the Missouri now watches over the remains of the battleship and those interred may rest in peace.
The USS Missouri was the ship that the Japanese surrendered to the United States ending the war in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
The two ships are a symbol of the beginning and the end of the war.
The oil that still leaks from the ship are called the tears of the USS Arizona.
. . .
. . .
What a nice tribute!
ReplyDeletei have also been to the memorial with sarge, some years back. very nicely done.
ReplyDeletesmiles, bee
xoxooxoxxo
One of the places I'll have to see for myself someday.
ReplyDeleteVery moving, parsnip.
ReplyDeleteI also read the 'seventy-one years' twice - really, so long. My parents were in their teens, so I'm one of the generation that grew up with every Sunday afternoon taken over by war films on the television. You feel you know every part of that war so well it still seems current.
Good post.
ReplyDeleteI thought you might like this: http://boingboing.net/2012/12/08/caturday-dig-this-2013-japane.html
Thank you for the timely reminder Parsnip. My first husband, who died in 1991,
ReplyDeletewas a prisoner of war of the Japanese and was on the so called 'Death Railway'.
He was probably one of the youngest prisoners as he was only seventeen when he was
captured (he was what used to be called a 'band boy'). But there has to be forgiveness
doesn't there? It is a long time ago. But nevertheless, for the sake of those who
gave their lives, we have to remember.
When we did our 'round the world trip' Pearl Harbour was one of the memorable places we saw.
ReplyDeleteI've seen it. It's beyond words.
ReplyDelete