March 8 - Pearl Harbor Day

     The Valor in the Pacific memorial park in Pearl Harbor includes not only the memorial to the Arizona battleship, but also the Missouri battleship, the Bowfin WWII submarine, and the Pacific Aviation Museum.  In our five hours we managed to fit in only the battleships.
     

Dedicated in 1962, the memorial sits on piers that straddle the sunken ship.

The foundation of one of the main three-gun turrets.

"Black Tears of the Arizona" - Around a quart and a half of fuel oil leaks from the hull every day.

The remains of 1102 sailors and marines remain in the hull of the ship.  24 survivors who have since died have chosen to join their shipmates, their ashes interred in the hull.

This flag mast is attached to the Arizona.  Every time a navy, coast guard, merchant marine ship passes by the memorial, all hands line the rail and stand at attention.

Pearl Harbor remains the main base of the Pacific fleet.

Moored 550 yards away is the last American battleship, the USS Missouri.  The surrender documents that ended WWII were signed by the Japanese on the deck of the Missouri.  Thus, the start and end of America's active participation in WWII involved these two ships.

The Missouri now stands as a symbolic guardian over the Arizona.

You can wander around most of the upper decks of the ship. 

Below decks sailors and marines were crammed together.  And there were a lot of them - up to 2700.

At the top of the command chain, the captain had slightly swankier digs.

The tidy mess.  240 gallons of milk, 500 gallons of coffee, 210 dozen eggs, 200 pounds of bread, 1000 pounds of meat products - part of the grocery list to feed the crew every day.  Whew, and I think we have it hard when we feed forty on New Year's Day.

Hopefully the next time we come to Oahu we'll tour the Bowfin submarine and get to the Aviation Museum.