Before my lengthy post...I have to point out 3 things that I learned from visiting the USA this past week. 1...Anna Nicole Smith's body and where it is to be buried is really big news. 2...Britney Spears shaving her head is really big news. 3....I now realize why Americans are so patriotic after visiting Pearl Harbor.
Here's my post:
The main thing I was looking forward to was seeing Pearl Harbor. My Grandfather served in the Royal Canadian Navy in WWII, so this stuff has always interested me.
Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 :
Navy : 2001 (majority in the sinking of the USS Arizona)
Marines : 109
Army: 231
Cilvilian: 54
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2395 killed
At a certain part of the memorial you can see oil still leaking to the surface from the sunken USS Arizona. The Veterans call it "the tears of the entombed men". If I recall correctly, there is 1004 men at rest within the USS Arizona. The men could be heard tapping to be rescued for a couple of weeks after the ship had sunk.
This is a picture of the foundation for the no. 3 gun turret of the sunken USS Arizona sitting above the water. From the memorial, you can see the entire length of the battleship underwater.
From the USS Arizona memorial, we toured the USS Missouri, aka The Mighty Mo.
This picture is of the gun turrets on the Mighty Mo. The picture below it is the shell that is shot out of those things. They are about up to my elbow. These gun turrets shot 289 shells during Desert Storm. The turrets in the rear of the ship unloaded 209 during Desert Storm. Mighty Mo is a menacing instrument of war.
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Missouri was docked and being worked on. This is a cool photo where a Japanese Kamikaze plane crashed into the side of the ship in 1945.
These are some cool shots from inside Missouri.
This is the final picture that I will post from Missouri. This is The Surrender Deck. This is where General McArthur and the military leaders of WWII met on September 2, 1945 to witness the signing of the Instrument of Surrender by the Japanese, thus ending the worlds bloodiest war.
Our tour guide was retired Navy, so his first hand knowledge only enriched the experience. He took us to where the sailors would have slept and described what it must've been like to drown in the USS Arizona. Being in those small rooms with only and inch or two of air between the water and the ceiling is something that I cannot even imagine going through.
Now for the biggie....after we left the USS Arizona memorial and before we headed to the Missouri, we shopped a little. We walked by this little old man at a table with toy planes in packages. I bought one and he signed it. You may ask why would I buy a toy, here's the answer:
2nd Lt. Bill Cope, stationed at Hickam Army Air Field, was off duty with his wife on December 7, 1941. When they heard the nearby explosions they looked out and realized it was the Japanese. Bill ran to the Operations Building to report for duty, but there was nothing he could do. The Hickam Field aircraft had been lined up wing-tip to wing-tip to prevent sabotage and the enemy bombers were destroying any hope of getting those aircraft off the ground. The ammunition stores were locked and in the chaos no one could locate the keys. Bill would be forced to wait for his retaliation in later Pacific campaigns. He flew his B-17 at Midway, Guadalcanal and the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. He flew forty missions in the Guadalcanal combat zone and sank an enemy battleship. 2nd Lt. Bill Cope was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two air medals for his valor.
The toy was replica of the plane he flew and has his story on the back. He signed it as best he could. He asked me why I wanted a childs toy. I told him that he was a living hero and I was honored to have met him. He told me that he was nothing special and that the Japanese killed most of his friends. He said he merely did what everyone else did and what those who died would've done. It was at this point that I realized why Americans are so patriotic. I admit that I have a hard time saying that I would go into war if my country called upon all willing and able, so the fact that so many gave their lives for a cause of the greater good of the entire country, I'm at a loss for words. I have more respect for my Grandfather and all service men and women.
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