Pearl Harbor Blog

Today was an early morning for the field trip to Pearl
Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. The history of Pearl
Harbor started when the United States was not entered in the
World War II. The Japanese came up with a plan to produce a
massive strike at Pearl Harbor and blow out their whole
Pacific fleet. The Japanese even made a special torpedo
just for Pearl Harbor and the battle ships. In July of 1941,
the Japanese began to confuse the American radios in giving
them information that would take them a long period of time
to decode. Later, the ambassador of Japan came to the United
States to talk about a peace agreement. In that time the
Japanese carriers just seemed to disappear off the face of
the earth, when in reality it was when the Japanese were
training to fly, drop bombs, flight maneuvers, and to take
off on a carrier ship. On U.S. soil, in the mountains near
Pearl Harbor, there were also Japanese spies on the island
taking pictures of the American carriers and planes. In the
morning of December 7th, 1941 the Japanese started their
mission of sinking the pacific fleet. By the time the United
States decoded the Japanese radio message it was an hour
late. Over 3,000 American lives were lost that day that
didn't even have a chance to fight back because they
weren't prepared for this attack. There were 1,177
soldiers that stuck in the United States Carrier the
Arizona. It was at this time that the United States decided
to enter in World War II.
Being at the memorial was eye opening in the
sense that many people died for this country and for the
people that are in it. There are not any words that descirbed the
way I felt when looking at the memorial of the USS Arizona. We
were told that there are remains of 1,177 crew members in the USS
Arizona today, and that the crew members that have lived through this
tragedy were given the option of when they pass away for
their ashes to be with the rest of their crew and their
vessel. A few years ago, my grandfather told me a story of
him having a friend while being in the war. His friend was
on the USS Arizona and he is still alive to tell the story today. When
he told me that I didn't quite understand the history of
what had happened in Pearl Harbor and what his friend must
have gone through. Now that I look back on his story I now
want to meet with his friend to show him the pictures that I
have taken of the memorial and listen to his story of
what had happened on December 7th, 1941.

Alecia