The day before the 70th anniversary of D-Day, we visited Pearl Harbour, Oahu's top tourist attraction. It was there, on December 7, 1941, that Japan launched a surprise air and submarine attack on the ships and planes that had been gathered at this naval base in the Pacific Ocean. Initially, Hawaiians thought that they were watching "maneuvers." Soon their curiosity turned to horror as two waves of Japanese squadrons sank or damaged twenty-one ships, killing more than 2,400 people. Casualties included 1,177 young men who were aboard the USS Arizona which sank in nine minutes when it was struck below deck by an armour piercing bomb.
We visited the two museums that explained the road to war and the details of the two hour attack. Then it was our turn to view a twenty-three minute orientation movie and board a shuttle boat for the ride to the iconic white pavilion that has been erected over the rusting, coral encrusted remains of the USS Arizona.
The bodies of nine hundred young men are still buried inside the ship. We thought about their panic as we strolled the length of the pavilion. Then, as we leaned over the edge of one of the viewing ports and looked at the silhouette of their watery grave, we saw something totally unexpected: the rainbow colours of oil on water.
"Did you see that?" I said. "Look!"
We studied the water carefully. Suddenly, there it was. A small black drop of oil, the size of a pearl, floating up from the depths. When it broke the surface, it flared into a tiny oil slick. As it drifted away with the current, another drop surfaced. And then another. Seventy-three years later, at fifteen to thirty second intervals, the USS Arizona was still bleeding oil from its tanks, one tiny drop at a time.
In addition to the pavilion over this sunken vessel, the USS Arizona Memorial has many attractions. You can even board and explore a battleship and a submarine. But the thing that we will remember most of all are the black tears still being shed by the ship and its crew, turning into rainbows before they float away.
- Pastor Peter
We visited the two museums that explained the road to war and the details of the two hour attack. Then it was our turn to view a twenty-three minute orientation movie and board a shuttle boat for the ride to the iconic white pavilion that has been erected over the rusting, coral encrusted remains of the USS Arizona.
The bodies of nine hundred young men are still buried inside the ship. We thought about their panic as we strolled the length of the pavilion. Then, as we leaned over the edge of one of the viewing ports and looked at the silhouette of their watery grave, we saw something totally unexpected: the rainbow colours of oil on water.
"Did you see that?" I said. "Look!"
We studied the water carefully. Suddenly, there it was. A small black drop of oil, the size of a pearl, floating up from the depths. When it broke the surface, it flared into a tiny oil slick. As it drifted away with the current, another drop surfaced. And then another. Seventy-three years later, at fifteen to thirty second intervals, the USS Arizona was still bleeding oil from its tanks, one tiny drop at a time.
In addition to the pavilion over this sunken vessel, the USS Arizona Memorial has many attractions. You can even board and explore a battleship and a submarine. But the thing that we will remember most of all are the black tears still being shed by the ship and its crew, turning into rainbows before they float away.
- Pastor Peter
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