It’s always a little hard to visit these emotions for me. I normally will not even think about it today. I’ll try and not listen to the news or the TV talk about the anniversary of America’s first major attack on her own soil from a foreign force. Even if I wasn’t there, my dad was. I’m working on a web page that better describes his life and experiences now that he’s passed on. He died this past year on October 19th, 2003, and didn’t get to see the 62nd anniversary last year. This year, I’m starting to look more into the story behind that day in history and the human experience. And where we are today.
My father was stationed on the USS Tangier that morning. As you can see from the images below, he was right next to the USS Utah which was sunk that morning…
Here you can see the USS Tangier in the lower left as indicated. This image was taken from a Japanese torpedo bomber aircraft. A direct torpedo hit can be seen impacting another battleship in the center of the image. The USS Utah has already started to tip in this image.
Another Japanese aerial photo taken here shows the USS Utah already capsized in front of the Tangier.
When attempts were made to try and salvage the USS Utah, it became apparent that it would not be possible to rescue the ship and it was decided to leave her in place and turn it into a grave site for the fallen sailors of the ship that were never recovered. Today, there is still an oil slick coming from the ship (as is the case with the USS Arizona memorial) and plant life has started growing on the rusting frame.
A recent sonar photograph taken by a local Hawaiian diver rendered this image of the USS Utah from underwater.
Having visited both the USS Utah and Arizona memorial sites, I can tell you that it is a very emotional experience. I believe the tour guide for the Arizona memorial still got choked up while giving his talk. My own father didn’t talk much about that day unless he was drunk until the 50th anniversary in 1991. I can understand his desire there. There was nothing glorious about it. It was a horrible moment in America that is still painful to look at -even for me and I wasn’t born for another 30 years. I think that it holds deeper meaning to me now in the aftermath of 9-11.
But as much as I’d like to compare the two events, they couldn’t be more opposite. WWII was a geographical conflict of sorts. Conquest was the motivation and not morals or religon. 9-11 and the current state of terrorism that plagues our planet today has no physical border. We will never see a victory nor a surrender in this battle if we do “win”. Unlike Japan surrendering to the US onboard of the USS Missouri 4 years later, we will never experience such things anymore in this current war. But we MUST win. I have more to say about this but have lost most of my time collecting some decent info about Pearl Harbor…
In summary, I’d like to just remind those of you reading this to remember Pearl Harbor and December 7th , 1941. Remember the thousands of sailors who died that day and the millions that would die in the ensuing war around the world. Remember but don’t get too thankful abot your so-called peacful existance today. I would suggest that we live in a far more dangerous time. Terrorism has no boundary and no moral decency. …And this was won’t be over in the next 4 years either!