Harbor-ing Nightmares

In 1941 when the Japanese launched aerial attacks on the Pearl Harbor located off the coast of Hawaii, the whole of US came down on its knees. Now, with a memorial constructed on battleship USS Arizona, one of the battleships that sunk on December 7, 1941, with 1100 men trapped on board, it gets visitors from across the world who gasp at the enormity of the loss.

Visitors are treated to the minutest bit of history captured aline in the preserved missiles, equipments and photographers of the top commanders. In the waiting area tourists get their dose of history in a mini-theatre before they can head off to the memorial.

The movie shown to us comprised clips with commentary about the days preceding and after the attacks. Most soldiers were still in bed when, on December 7, Japanese planes struck before 8 am, and within minutes five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbour were sunk or sinking. The movie does justice to the enormity of the attack, leaving you gasping.

Movie over, two steamers take visitors to the memorial made on the battleships USS Arizona. The memorial which floats over the sunken ship gets more than a million visitors annually. Incidentally, a large chunk of tourists on the Hawaiin islands are from Japan and it's interesting to note their observations as they walk on ttop of the sunken battleships. At the memorial we were given instructions. "We must pay our respects to the dead. Please avoid posing for group pictures and talking loudly," we were told.

A sight to behold was the oil spilling out from the battleship's tank. Just a day before the Japanese attacks, the Arizona was given 1.2 million gallons of fuel oil. According to estimates more than 500,000 gallons of oil remain aboard the battleship. The continuous oil spill even after 67 years is a reminder of the events of that day and what lies beneath. At one point the floor of the memorial offers a view of what lies beneath (rotting metal and wreckage), giving the eerie feeling of death.