Pearl Harbor Hawaii

Do you remember when you were in school and you learned about Pearl Harbor and how WWII started?  I remember that - but I didn't take away what I needed to - going to Pearl Harbor really made it sink in.  

It started like this:

The statistics are staggering:

 (taken from HERE)

Date December 7, 1941 Location Primarily Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, United States Result Japanese major tactical victory United States declares war on the Empire of Japan Nazi Germany and Kingdom of Italy declare war on the United States.
Belligerents
United States of America	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Husband Kimmel Walter Short	Chuichi Nagumo Isoroku Yamamoto
Strength
8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 30 destroyers, 4 submarines, 49 other ships,[1] ~390 aircraft	Mobile Unit: 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 9 destroyers, 8 tankers, 23 fleet submarines, 5 midget submarines, 414 aircraft
Casualties and losses
4 battleships sunk, 4 battleships damaged including 1 run aground 2 destroyers sunk, 1 damaged 1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged 3 cruisers damaged[nb 1] 188 aircraft destroyed 155 aircraft damaged,		4 midget submarines sunk, 1 midget submarine run aground, 27 aircraft destroyed, 55 airmen killed 9 submariners killed 1 submariner

But most astonishing of all:

2,402 military killed
1,247 military wounded
57 civilians killed
35 civilians wounded

Walking up to Pearl Harbor, we were not surprised to see the line had already formed at the gate, however, we had indeed gotten there early as the guide books told us we must be.  If we weren't, the chances of us going aboard the USS Arizona Memorial were slim to none.  We arrived at around 7am to find these people had arrived even earlier than us:

Thankfully, we had arrived early enough we were still confident we would get on a tour of the USS Arizona.  As we walked up to the waiting area, we saw this sign:

It was hard to believe that there were actually survivors - how long had it been?  69 years!  Would we see any survivors of Pearl Harbor?

Indeed we did - volunteers and survivors of Pearl Harbor that gave their time to come in and educate us:

And they were alive and well - it was a pleasure to hang out and listen to them chattering and visiting with the folks around them.  The veteran on the left signed a paper for us and was very careful to spell my name correctly.  He had a memory like and elephant - he didn't have to ask twice for the spelling.  Amazing!

We hurried to the counter to get our free passes to go to the memorial; we were in luck, we got in - something they said said might be tricky to get.  It pays to arrive early!

Once we were in the gate, we could see the memorial off in the distance:

We were surprised we had to ride a boat to get there:

Before boarding we were warned that this was indeed a memorial and we were to respect it as such:  no loud talking, playing, laughing or rude behavior.  We were also warned we could be quickly removed from the premises if we broke those rules and the park rangers were told to "keep their people in line".

We boarded the boat for the short ride - and it was quiet too - no one was breaking those rules!

As we pulled up this is what we saw:

And finally arriving, we saw this:

But the breathtaking part was the ranger 'opening' the memorial for us to board - we were the first arrivals of the day:

No one said a word. 

Finally, stepping out onto the memorial:

We walked in to the far wall to see the names of all the people lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor:

Looking at it a bit closer, you realized just how many people died - look at how small the writing is:

It was mind boggling.  I wandered around the memorial, millions of thoughts going through my head, taking in the sights and silence:

We were told that the Arizona still leaked oil from the engine and that is why we saw an oil sheen on the water, and if it leaked at the rate it did now, that it would leak for an additional 200+ years!

We were allowed to browse for about thirty minutes.  Thirty very quiet minutes.  The only speaking you heard were questions being asked and all in a very subdued tone were they answered.  Once we got back to shore, we were all very sobered... very solemn.  It was quite a emotional day - and had a great impact on us as I am sure it did many others.  

Here are some memorials at Pearl Harbor - and there were many more:

All in all, Steve and I were both sad and impressed at the memorial.  It did exactly what it was designed to do; make us realize just what a huge tragedy Pearl Harbor was and how it led us into World War II.  I have never been so impacted in a historical lesson as I was the day we went to tour Pearl Harbor.  I truly was able to grasp what our ancestors went through before us - and what led us to be the great United States of America. 

It made us think long and hard at our history and where what we have risen from.  The facts we learned we astonishing.  Seeing it all laid out before us put it all in perspective.

The reality of just how big this was hit me not only when I saw the name list of those killed, but when I saw this picture:

An aerial view of the USS Arizona under the USS Arizona Memorial.  

Quite sobering, isn't it?