This week marks the 83rd anniversary of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor. While everyone knows the story of the events that marked the entrance of the United States into World War II, I didn’t fully appreciate the significance of the attack on our nation and the world’s future until I had to the opportunity to visit this historic site in person last month.
While I’ve visited many memorials throughout our country, the Vietnam Memorial, the memorials to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, nothing prepared me for the scope of the devastation that took place in Honolulu from this air attack.
In the weeks to come as I process all the information from my visit, I’m sure I’ll share more of those observations, but here are just a couple that struck me.
Our visit began with brief boat ride out to the Arizona Memorial, the battleship that was destroyed when a Japanese bomb penetrated a magazine holding the smokeless gun powder used to fire the twelve 45-caliber, 14-inch guns in triple gun turrets, which were the ship’s main armament.
Unable to be raised after the explosion, the Arizona Memorial marks the final resting place of 1,102 of the 1,172 sailors and Marines who lost their lives on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. I can’t remember a more somber experience as I became overwhelmed by the gravity of the devastation and the lives lost in a mere instant.
The memorial itself lies across the beam of the ship which remains largely submerged in the shallow waters of the harbor. A granite wall at the far end of the memorial displays the names and rank of each man interred in the watery grave. I was particularly moved by the fact that an additional 45 souls who survived the initial attack, chose to have their cremated remains buried with those of their shipmates. The last of these survivors, Lt. Harvey Milhorn, was laid to rest on December 7, 2021, on the 80th anniversary of the attack.
Additional information about Lt. Milhorn and the impact surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor had on his life can be found via the link below.
Lest we never forget.
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