Pearl Harbor: 80 years ago and still with us
By Tom Adkinson
December 3, 2021

The sunken USS Arizona is only a few feet beneath the memorial that marks the tomb of more than 900 sailors. Image by Tom Adkinson

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Demographers and genealogists say a generation is approximately 25 years, which means Americans are at least three generations divorced from the trauma that occurred 80 years ago this month.

December 7, 1941.

The “day that will live in infamy.” Pearl Harbor. Sneak attack. World War II.

Even separated by 80 years, the event that pulled the United States into war is recognized for it suddenness and importance. The attack was at least a partial tactical success, but it was a strategic blunder.

A sheen of oil glistens on the water beside the memorial to the USS Arizona. Image by Tom Adkinson

Almost everyone has seen the grainy film of Franklin Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech to a joint session of Congress. In it, he spoke with resolve about how “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Lesser known is the comment from a key Japanese figure.

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve” reportedly is a diary entry from Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.

At 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, the first of 183 Japanese warplanes roared across the mountains north of the harbor. They struck with a vengeance on a quiet Sunday morning.

Ninety minutes later, it was over – the battleships USS Arizona and USS Utah were sunk, six other battleships and many more ships were damaged, and 188 aircraft were destroyed. Military and civilian fatalities totaled 2,403, according to the National Park Service, which now safeguards the Arizona and other sites in cooperation with the Navy.

A National Park Service volunteer helps explain the attack on Pearl Harbor. Image by Tom Adkinson

Pearl Harbor today is a serene location, the way a tropical paradise should be. However, it also is place of emotion and solemnity.

Two battleships are here to bookend the story of the war in the Pacific. One is the sunken hulk of the Arizona. The other is the imposing USS Missouri, where the United States accepted Japan’s surrender in 1945.

It was the Arizona that I wanted to see on my first trip to Hawaii. The beach at Waikiki, Diamond Head and other sites were far down my list of places to visit.

A circular gun turret rises above the surface of the water just a few yards from the Arizona memorial. Image by Tom Adkinson

A landside program included recognition of an aging and proud survivor of the attack. (Eight decades, the infirmities of age and a pandemic prevent survivors’ participation now.) Then came a short motor launch ride to the sunken battleship.

A white memorial structure with a gently curving roof rests over the Arizona, which is just a few feet underwater. The circular rear gun turret sticks slightly above the surface. The scene is almost overwhelming.

A memorial wall made of Vermont marble contains the names of 1,177 sailors who died on the Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Image by Tom Adkinson

Gentle breezes flowed through the memorial, and a tiny sheen was visible on the water as I looked through one of the 14 vertical portals. Every day, a small amount of oil emerges from the ship, a hollowed tomb for more than 900 of the 1,177 crewmen who died in the attack.

Protected at one end of the memorial structure is a gleaming wall of Vermont marble, filled from floor to ceiling with the victims’ names.

Just seeing the names guarantees that visitors will remember the lives they represent – this year, 80 years from now, forever.