Magnet #289 - USS Arizona Memorial"December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."- FDR's Pearl Harbor Speech
I'll be honest, it feels weird to write this magnetpost about this memorial that I haven't seen, and still be so moved by it, while writing it.
So, I'm taking the easy way out, and just pointing you to the National Park Service site, as well as this other USS Arizona Preservation site, dedicated to the preservation of the ship below.
4 comments:
Wow, that photo of the memorial on your magnet is super creepy, with the eerie shadow of the ship just barely seen through the water.
I've been there, and yes, it was very moving, and for a girl who is somewhat deep-water-phobic, it was eight kinds of scary, too. There were several levels of discomfort going on that day.
The thing I remember most about our day trip out there was how many hundreds of Japanese tourists there were. I lived on Oahu for two years, and Japanese tourists were everywhere, all the time, snapping pictures and laughing and chatting, and being the generally bubbly crowd that they are. The only time I saw them subdued and somewhat uncomfortable was at the Arizona Memorial. It's always odd, having national pride and yet still being horrified by the things your country has done...
Hmm, to clarify, I mean to say that I've felt that way before. Proud to be an American, but ever-so-disappointed in several of my country's actions over the years.
One of the most moving and well-done memorials I've been to, from the sadsadsad orientation video at the visitors center to the list of names on the wall at the site. Tatay liked it, too. And he's hard to impress.
Yeah, I was quite surprised by how emotional I got writing just the post and reading that one preservation site. I dunno how I'd be if I actually went.
It's different visiting the DC memorials, because for the most part, they're just concrete. But this one's literally on the actual site. It's kind of how I'd imagine the Sept 11th Memorial will be.
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