Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941
I recently had the opportunity to go to Hawaii for the first time. While the beaches and scenery are magnificent, I most wanted to visit Pearl Harbor. It just so happened that I visited on a Sunday, the same day of the week that the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. I arrived early before the museum opened and, by coincidence, ended up taking the ferry from the main museum site to the USS Arizona Memorial at the same time as the Japanese planes arrived over Pearl Harbor - just before 8:00 a.m. My ferry boat, manned by enlisted sailors in today's navy, stopped in the middle of the harbor to observe "Colors" that play daily at 8:00 a.m. across the Navy. The playing of our national anthem could clearly be heard from the naval base nearby. The weather this day was just as it was on December 7, 1941. And, again by coincidence, a small airplane similar in size to the Japanese aircraft that arrived over Pearl Harbor that day flew above, eerily suggesting what it must have looked like on that fateful morning. History has a way of reminding us of the past in moments like this. Below are some photographs that struck me during my visit to this monumental site in our nation's history.
