The memorial terrace on which we are standing, alongside my wife, has been erected above the remains of the USS Arizona, a 608-foot Pennsylvania-class battleship overwhelmed at its moorings on the morning of December 7, 1941, by Japanese dive bombers. It sank in minutes. The flooded hulk, a necropolis ever since, holds the remains of many of the 1,177 sailors and marines killed or drowned on the ship that morning. I’m explaining to the boy that sometimes we do this to each other, harm each other on this scale. – Barry Lopez, Horizon.
A few days ago, Wade and I visited Pearl Harbour with his parents. The early morning bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 brought the US into the second world war. Twenty naval ships sank and hundreds of planes taken out. Thousands of people died that day. 1,999 sailors, 233 soldiers, 109 marines, and 49 civilians. The majority on the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma.
Due to advances in forensic sciences, the military was able to identify 355 people from the USS Oklahoma. In a closed ceremony, the remaining thirty-three were reinterred at the Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetry of the Pacific in 2021.
Before the Pearl Harbour attack, the US’s policy was neutrality and its position was isolationist.
People had not forgotten the first world war. Still, without American intervention and military support, it looked like the European countries could fall. There was doubt that Britain could hold out much longer. The Japanese was already occupying several Asian countries, making living conditions dire. A book you may find interesting is Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution by Helen Zia.
The “back door to war” theory is that the attack was not a surprise and was used to shift the public sentiment of neutrality.
There is a reason I graduated with a degree in International Relations, which is History, Political Science, and Economics. History is fascinating to me and it’s wise to remember the winners write the history. With recent disclosures of UPAs/UFOs, after decades of gaslighting people, it is even more clear that public access to information is controlled.
No matter the politics and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the second world war ravaged and tore into families, scorched the earth, and shifted fortunes.
I find visiting these museums troubling. Because of why they are there in the first place. Are we able to remember and not repeat the same pattern? While in Hiroshima, I did go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It was a difficult experience.
Listen up – there’s no war that will end all wars.
Haruki Murakami
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
Ernest Hemingway
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.
Jimmy Carter
Pearl Harbour National Memorial (government / park website) | Pearl Harbour (non-governmental site for information)
Pearl Harbour National Memorial
The Joint Base Pearl Harbour-Hickam is an active naval base. Next to it is the Pearl Harbour National Memorial, about forty-five minutes from Waikiki. Entrance is free to the Pearl Harbour Visitor Centre, Pearl Harbour National Memorial, museums, and the grounds.
According to the Pearl Harbour website, 2 million+ people visit each year. We were there for around noon and there were a lot of people. The capacity for the USS Arizona Memorial is 150 people and the lines for it were very, very long.
It wasn’t the first time for Wade’s parents who showed us some of the highlights. They’ve already been to the USS Arizona Memorial, which often sells out months ahead. From the shore, we could see the USS Arizona Memorial, a white building that visitors can only reach on a Naval Shuttle ship.
The USS Arizona Memorial
The USS Arizona, commissioned in 1916, was battle-ready, tanks refilled and anchored in Battleship Row. It was hit soon after the attack began and ultimately most of its crew – 1,177 marines and sailors – perished. 334 survived. The massive damage caused the 33,000 ton ship to burn and sink to the bottom over two days. The ocean is the final resting place for some 900 people. The Shrine Room lists the names of everyone who died.
The USS Arizona Memorial opened in 1962, made possible by donations, including funds raised by Elvis Presley’s 1961 concert. The memorial sits over the battleship still on the ocean floor. Visitors to the white memorial building can view it underneath. In 1989, it became a National Historic Landmark.
There has been some debate about removing the USS Arizona due to environmental concerns.
The USS Arizona oil leak is still occurring over 70 years after the attack and will likely continue for around 500 years. Though it’s difficult to measure, experts believe around 14,000-64,000 gallons of oil have leaked from the ship since it sank at a rate of around 2-9 quarts per day. The ship still holds a significant amount of oil as it was refilled the day before the attack.
Along with USS Arizona, USS Utah also remains in the ocean. For the surviving crewmen of both ships, there is an option to have their ashes interred with their fellow shipmates. In 2019, the forty-fourth crewman was laid to rest at the USS Arizona. Lauren Bruner was among the few forward of the ship who survived. He was just shy of his 99th birthday.
Lauren Bruner was the last to be interred at the USS Arizona. At that time there were three remaining survivors, Lou Conter, Ken Potts, and Don Stratton.
Don Stratton died in 2020, aged 97, and Ken Potts, in 2023, aged 102.
Lou Conter, the last survivor, passed away in 2024, at the age of 102. (Here are the details of the memorial and internment. It also includes the list of names.)
In this article in NPR, Lauren Bruner spoke about his Pearl Harbour experience. You can also read his book, Second to Last to Leave USS Arizona.
In 2025, it’s believed only 15 or 16 Pearl Harbour survivors are alive.
USS Oklahoma Memorial
Built in 2007, USS Oklahoma Memorial is located on Ford Island. Battleship Missouri Memorial is moored where USS Oklahoma was the day of the attack. The USS Oklahoma capsized after fifteen minutes of torpedo attacks. It sank quickly because its anti-torpedo void covers were off, ready for the inspection due the next day. 429 white markers stand for the lives lost on this battleship. As the navy could raise the USS Oklahoma from the ocean, all had a proper burial.
The Oklahoma, however, subsequently sank in 1947. While on tow from O’ahu to California, it encountered a storm.
Other sites to visit at Pearl Harbour – Battleship Missouri Memorial, The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, and Aviation Museum.
On our way to Pearl Harbour, we passed by the Moon Hina mural. Created by Hawaiian street artist Kamea Hadar, the 14-story mural on Halawa View Apartments overlooks Pearl Harbour. She holds the moon in one hand and a taro leaf in the other.
I am of mixed ancestry, what some people in Hawaii would call a poi dog. This local slang may seem synonymous with words like ‘mutt’, but instead I like more positive words like ‘hybrid’. I am not Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian ancestry), but I was lucky enough to grow up in a post-Hawaiian Renaissance age. The work of those in the late 1960’s and 1970’s changed the landscape in Hawaii and traditional cultures were no longer embarrassing, but something to be proud of.
My art grew in an environment where these values were so pervasive that regardless of your ethnicity they had an unavoidable effect on one’s life and for me on my work.
The Moon which guides sailors is the inspiration for the mural. Kamea Hadar created it to welcome home the Hokulea crew. In 2019, the crew returned after a three-year voyage to educate and spread the message of “caring for our island earth” or malama honua.
Hokulea, “Star of Gladness”, is a replica of a traditional Polynesian canoe. It was built to study migration by ancient peoples across the Pacific Ocean. Hokulea’s first voyage was to Tahiti to show that Pacific islanders used only the celestial bodies and nature to navigate across the ocean.
The model for the mural is Mahina Florence, neé Garcia. She is a surfer, model, influencer, and the daughter of Kai Borg, a former Jiu-Jitsu champion. Mahina is married to professional surfer Nathan Florence.
I was born on Oahu and live here now, but Kaua’i is my second home where we have lots of farmland. It’s a beautiful place with fruit trees, goats, chickens, cows, and a few dogs and there’s a lot of labour involved to keep it maintained. I live a simple life and I’m not materialistic. As long as I have food on the table, my family, my love, God and the beach I’m happy.
Mahina Garcia in an interview for Stab (2019)