The Reverence in Pearl Harber

It was special to be able to honor the service men at Pearl Harbor.
I learned so much about the history of that tragic day, and many other stories of WWII.

Above is the USS Missouri, which is one of the ships that was there on Dec 7th, many years ago, but it was repaired quickly and used to rebuttal the brutal attack. Later the the treaty was signed to end the war on this great battle ship.

Now it faces the USS Arizona (as a guardian) of its under water grave sight.

Also above are all the names of those that died on the sunken USS Arizona.

When you look at the memorial, it is overwhelming to see the number of names of men and women who died on the USS Arizona.

And then when you remember there were many more who died on the air fields and other places, it is sad to feel the reality of it all.

This map showed all the different locations that were shot. I'm pointing to Pearl Harbor. The airplanes flew in from the back side, between the 2 major mountains and shot missiles, then flew around the mountains and shot again.

The sidewalks there were lined with all different kinds of missiles used during WWII.

One (not pictured) was called a suicide missile that the Japanese used. It was were they would release the missile with a man inside to steer it quietly into the enemies ship undetected. I think that is a tragic career to have for a Japanese man.

One of the old submarines used in WWII. It is now a museum that you can go inside.

Old battleship guns. You can see them on the USS Missouri.

It was humbling to read the stories of the men who fought so bravely. So many of them loosing their lives while saving many others. We strolled down a walk way that told story after story of individuals on that day. There was one area that was devoted to the 52 submarine ships that were sunk during WWII. We only read some of them, but each one ended had a unique story. One that I remember was sadly sunk by another American ship by accident. They had mistaken it for an enemy sub and sunk it before they realized who it was. I would hate to be the ones on the surviving ship, once I realized what had been done.

We were also told of the service men that were assigned to the USS Arizona, but by chance were not on the ship when it sunk. The survivors remorse that was describes was heart breaking.

Many of them choose to have their ashes buried inside the ship with their crew mates.

Then their names are added to the memorial.

We took a ferry boat over to the sunken USS Arizona.

Parts of the ship are up out of the water, but most of it is rusty under the water.

There is still oil leaking from the tanks.

This flag pole is one of the 1st things you see when you walk onto the memorial. The flag pole is positioned in the same spot where the original flag pole stood on the ship. They keep the flag raised in honor of the many men buried in the ship.

It is a stunning sight to see in person.