Visiting The Past

We woke up Wednesday morning and headed to Pearl Harbor. We were determined to visit the Arizona Memorial.I was previously un-successfull in getting out to the memorial due to the masses of people that line up to go there each day....that's right, each and every day the memorial is visited by 1'000's of people. I heard one park service ranger claim there are 4,000 people per/day. Each boat ride out to the memorial holds about 100 people. Peg and I arrived at 9 AM and we were told that we would be on boat 14 leaving at11:00 AM. When you do the clock math, you quickly figure out that 4k people is pretty accurate. When we received our boat tickets (completely free by the way) we were stampeeded by a group of Japanese people who we quickly learned have little regard for who they step on and bump into and through. There were as many Japanese people at the memorial as US Citizens.

We decided that with a two hour wait, our time would best be spent by visiting the Punch Bowl which is a National Monument. Thousands of service men are buried in the punch bowl along with my own Uncle from whom I got my name. We stopped at the entrance information office to find my Uncle Harold Olson is buried in Section P lot 1044 (very near the entrance) and his body was placed there when the monument first openned in 1949. Harold was killed on April 4th, 1945 (at the age of 22). I was unable to find out what was done with his body for the 4 years after he was killed. In any case, the office worker there told me that the records show Harold was buried there in 1949 when the monument first openned and he has been there ever since.

The monument is a dormant volcanoe which is high on the mountain overlooking the city of Honolulu. It is a gorgeous site and a wonderful tribute to people who served our country. Every war is represented at the monument, including the Korean war. I never knew Harold, but I know he was my mother's brother and that she lost her brother when he was 22 years old. I also know she named me..... after him. It is difficult to imagine the pain felt by his loss back in 1945.

Visiting Harold's final resting place (thousands of miles away from where he grew up on Sumac Ave. in Waukegan, IL) gives me a very warm feeling inside. The picture shown was taken by Peg with me kneeling at Harold's headstone. What is not apparent in the photo, is the hundreds of headstones that surround Harold's and say only ... UNKNOWN

After taking a few pictures, we headed back to Pearl to meet our tour boat. The tour was preceeded by a 23 minute movie of actual footage taken back in the time leading up to and including the attack on December 7th. The film was very educational. I guess I didn't realize the US placed an oil embargo on Japan and refused to lift it unless they stopped their aggression in Southeast Asia. I also didn't realize that one of the Japanese commanders responsible for planning the attack went to college at Harvard University here in the US (and actually was opposed to attacking the US because he knew what the US retaliation would be like).

The film was filled with real scenes from those days in 1942. It showed the band from the USS Arizona performing in Honolulu (having fun) the night before the attack. The film also recorded the armor piercing bomb dropped onto one of the 4 gun turets of the ship. Below the turets lie the ammunition stores and explosives so the single hit took by the Arizona was immediately devastating. Walking over the memorial was a little erie knowing that so many men were still entombed by the rusted walls of the ship below.

We were asked by the park service officer before heading out to the Arizona to remain as quiet as possible while visitng because it is a MEMORIAL site that we were visiting and that doing so, should be done with respect. He specifically mentioned no loud talking, calling, or yelling. My only regret is that Peg and I ended up on a shuttle boat filled with a touring group of Japanese people (as in about 90 of them). When we got to the site, it became clear to me that the Japanese people didn't understand a word of English.

The film taught me a few other things I didn't know.....After the attack, the USS Utah was stripped and turned into scrap metal. The Arizona was left untouched as a memorial. Every other Naval vessel in Pearl Harbor that day was repaired, restored, and re-entered active service duty.....every one of them. The film mentioned that Japan never anticipated the spirit of the American people and how they would ban together......and come back after them.