A Trip to Pearl Harbor

Several years back, my mother was nice enough to take my sister, brother and wife, his son and wife and myself to Hawaii. I had never planned on going there.

But, I always knew, that if I did, the one place I absolutely had to visit was Pearl Harbor.

We went out to the place one day. First, we found a really long line waiting outside to get into the museum and get tickets to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial. I hate lines and avoid them, but this is one I would wait in.

Interesting museum, but I was raring to go out to the the memorial. there were a lot of Japanese tourists and I cannot help but wonder what they were thinking as we went on our way and once there. They did not say anything.

It is quiet at the memorial, despite all the people. Any talking is done very quietly. The list of names of Arizona sailors still aboard the ship is akin to the feeling at the Vietnam Wall.

Then, there are the parts of the ship that are still above the water or just below it. The flagpole rests on the ship.

But what really got me was the oil that bubbled up every twenty-thirty seconds from deep inside the ship. Now, that really connected me to the Arizona. The bubbles would pop to the surface, then slowly drift away.

Something I Will Never Forget.