Arizona Memorial...

I recently visited the Arizona Memorial in the Pearl Harbor area while CJ and Danielle were in town.  The area is so fascinating, informative and the memorial itself has a calming and respectful feeling to it.  The area surrounding the memorial has several museums and educational displays.  I'm a huge History Channel and all things WWII fan, but I learned many new things.  I have yet to visit all of the museums, but I will eventually.

Nerd Alert:  some basic points and facts that I found to be interesting:
-1,177 naval men were killed in the explosion/sinking of USS Arizona
-The USS Arizona is considered a US Military grave site.  It still entombs 1,102 of the crewmen.
-Of the 20-something ships sunk/badly damaged, only 3 did not return to service in WWII
          -USS Arizona
          -USS Utah
          -USS Oklahoma (she was floated and was planned to be scrapped since it was outdated
            anyway, but sank in 1947 while being towed to California
-The superstructure (the part above the main deck of the battleship) was removed shortly after the Japanese sunk it otherwise most of it would actually be above water.
-Oil is still seeping out of the Arizona's oil tanks and constantly floats on the water near the memorial.  USS Arizona Memorial supporters who want the underwater structure undisturbed call this effect the "tears of the Arizona" ...environmentalist call it pollution.    eh...you decide.   (the supporters are winning the battle).

On to the pictures...

This is one of three anchors on the USS Arizona.  Each weighing 19,585 lbs.

What a perfect time for a rainbow!

Here is the memorial itself.  It can only be reached by boat.

The USS Arizona Memorial sits on top of the battleships deck and is perpendicular to the hull.  The below picture gives you an idea of where the memorial is compared to the sunken battleship.

Not my picture, but thank you to this website.

The wall of names of the servicemen lost aboard.

This is a shot of the USS Missouri from the vantage point of the USS Arizona memorial.  The USS Missouri is now a museum.  The Japanese surrendered onboard at the end of WWII.

The USS Bowfin (submarine).  Also now a museum.  It has a very distinguished career as a ship, but it's claim to fame is the sinking of a pier, land crane and bus on one particular tour of duty.

CJ and Danielle aboard the USS Bowfin.

Mahalo for visiting!