Pearl Harbor....

[Karnaj]

A most humbling experience was to walk in Arlington cemetery .It was many years ago in the early morning and a foggy mist was present .

I have a photo of an oil drop rising to the surface at the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Beautiful picture, wonderful memorial. Well worth the time. Spent a whole day there and still tear up when I look at that photo.

 

[Rob Croson]

Soon after being assigned to a submarine in Pearl Harbor, I visited the USS Arizona Memorial. It is definitely an experience. And yes, we saw the oil drops bubbling up from the wreck, too.

Pearl Harbor trivia: They never repaired the various bullet holes from the Japanese planes on many of the buildings all across the various bases. Particularly at Hickam Field and on Ford Island. Driving/walking around the base, you can still see the pock-marked walls from the bullets on quite a few buildings.

 

[Ty]

While tragic, the attack on Pearl Harbor was fortuitous in many aspects. Had the Navy seen a similar attack while at sea, most likely, it would have seen all hands lost on those ships that sank. Also, after the attack, the severely damaged ships were already at port and could be repaired where if they were at sea, they could have been lost. While devastating to us, the attack can be looked at as a failure as it did NOT eliminate the US Navy's Pacific forces.

Please don't misunderstand me. It was tragic and I respect all who served during that time. I've studied the attack quite a bit and it surely could have turned out much more effective had our ships been away from port.

 

[BilgeRat]

And the Japanese attack force messed up, big time. Admiral Kimmel's intelligence officer, Edwin Layton, pointed it out during a gathering in (I think) the seventies of American and Japanese who were involved in the action that the Japanese completely missed fleet fuel oil storage. He told them if they had destroyed that, it would have crippled us in the Pacific for at least a year... Layton's book is certainly worth a read if you're interested, the title is, "And I Was There - Pearl Harbor and Midway; Breaking The Secrets"