I've been trying for three days to come up with a decent Pearl Harbor post. What can I say except "We remember. You are not forgotten."?
Pearl Harbor at 65
Ed Morrissey
About this time 65 years ago, Imperial Japan conducted a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in their bid to knock America out of the Pacific. Japan actually intended to give Cordell Hull their declaration of war an hour prior to the attack, part of a coordinated offensive that would hit US installations throughout the Pacific over a matter of hours. A delay in gaining an audience with the Secretary of State created the conditions for the perfidious bombing at Hawaii. No matter -- the attack successfully crippled the Pacific Fleet, at least for a short time. The picture below comes from the Naval Archives, a color photograph from a film shot of the USS Arizona as its ammunition magazines exploded:
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This also marks what appears to be the last meeting of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Too many of their members have passed away or have become too infirm to travel; the affiliated associations have even begun to disband for lack of membership. For sixty-five years, they have upheld their motto -- "Remember Pearl Harbor, and Keep America Alert". However, some see the 9/11 attacks as a failure of America to listen to them: ...
Pearl Harbor Day
Allahpundit
Fascinating article from WaPo this morning about the oil still leaking from the wreck of the Arizona:
When the structure collapses, Foecke said, the oil will “erupt” toward the surface. “It’s going to break the wreck up and open,” he said. “The oil does have buoyancy, and it’s trying to find a way out, and there’s quite a lot of it.”
Even though Pearl Harbor is fairly industrialized, Foecke said, a big leak would create “a huge mess.” A spill of 100,000 gallons of jet fuel in 1987 fouled a mangrove swamp and a wildlife refuge and took two months to clean up, according to news reports of the time.
For now, tiny slicks scattered on the surface are all that’s visible. They expect the ship to burst and pollute the harbor in about a decade, 75 years after the Japanese took it down.
I posted some reminiscences by survivors last month; listen here and here if you’re in the mood. National Geographic has a dynamite multimedia page about the attack and the VideoRay site has underwater footage from when its probe dived on the Arizona a few years ago. There’s a shot of a tube of toothpaste still inside a cup.
Finally, here’s a newsreel of the attack. Pay attention to the segment where the attack begins, starting at around 55 seconds in; you’ll see bombs descending and then you see a huge explosion on a ship. If memory serves, that’s the actual footage of the moment of impact on the Arizona. The bomb went straight through the deck, hit the magazine, and blew the front of the ship apart. 1,177 men died. Most of them are still there.
[video link]
