11-1-10 Pearl Harbor

Yesterday we had the privilege of seeing Pearl Harbor. We visited the Arizona, the Utah, and the Pacific Aviation Museum. It was surreal and very moving. I didn't feel particularly comfortable taking up close pictures of the Arizona. I did, however, take a picture of an diesel oil slick slowly drifting away from the sunken battleship. The Arizona was sunk on Dec 7, 1941. Now, nearly 70 years later, it is still leaking oil at a rate of 4 quarts a day. Below are a few more pictures from Pearl Harbor


The entrance to Pearl Harbor.

A memorial to each of the submarines that were sunk in WW2. Very somber to read about. Most of them seemed to be sunk by Japanese mines.

The Missouri on the left and the Arizona memorial on the right. The Iowa-class Missouri was the last commissioned Battleship in the United States Navy. The Japanese signed the unconditional surrender on its bridge in Tokyo bay.

Raquel and I underneath a B-25, the type of plane that was used in Doolittle's raid over Japan's mainland. It was not one that was actually used in the raid as most of those crash landed in Japanese controlled China.

This final picture I wasn't sure whether to take or not or to post. It is a picture of the USS Utah. It was not anchored in Battleship row but instead North of Ford Island. It was also sunk on Dec 7 1941. Many of the seamen were rescued from the Utah, but over 60 still perished. The memorial was on the north of Ford Island and was difficult to get to without a military pass. It was completely empty when we got there. There were literally thousands of people going to see the Arizona and none going to the Utah. That didn't seem right to me somehow so despite my discomfort at taking a picture of such hallowed ground I took it anyway so that I could share the Utah with all of you. Like the Arizona, parts of it remain above water today