Pearl Harbor Memorial: The view of a British

Pearl Harbor Memorial: The view of a British

Our day begins with a 50-minute waiting time on the bus in Honolulu's main road. An hour later we crawl in the multi -lane traffic in the capital - not what we had imagined when we planned our 13 -Kilometer trip to the supposed island paradise.

Kia takes a look at me. "I hope that's worth it," she says with a tone that sounds sweet in the ears, but promises a lot of pain.

"It will be," I assure her and swallow quietly.

As the son of a history teacher, I have long fascinated the groundbreaking events of past days. It began with small, moving findings such as the fact that more soldiers die from illnesses than violence or that after the end of the war more soldiers die from veterans due to depression. These people, their life, their decisions seemed so much larger, so much sadder than mine.

Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"

I remember that at the age of 13 I visited the beaches of Normandy, the scene of the D-Day landings in World War II; The place of almost 20,000 victims. The air felt difficult and quiet, the places simple and unadorned. It had a feeling of grief-But not the large, exaggerated, patriotic way. Rather a reserved, gentle kind; The way that penetrates you into your bones and makes you tremble with cold.

As an Englishman, I always felt very connected to the events in Normandy.

Pearl Harbor, on the other hand, has always felt distant. It happened in another place in another time with other people. On our trip to the place of the attack, I sit there and wonder if it will meet me the same way.

Our visit begins by asking us to leave our bags in the cloakroom at a price of $ 3 per bag. I start rolling with my eyes (what could I expect more from a crazy capitalism?), But I stop when he winks and says: "One of your pockets is larger than the other, so I would take the little ones on a large scale and only pay one."

I smile. After I have deposited our bag, my second surprise comes when I find that entering the memorial is free. This seems to be far more appropriate than to raise fees for memories of men who have lost their lives.

Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"

We get tickets for the main monument, one of several sections of Pearl Harbor's historical sites. The sites are all part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Park, which is operated by the excellent National Park Service. Other areas and exhibits include access to the Missouri battleship, the USS-submarine Bowfin and the Pacific Aviation Museum. It can take several hours or even days to see every section.

We have a day in Oahu, so stay at the main monument. The meetings to the monument begin every hour, but be warned that there can be two to three hours in the summer months.

Our session begins with a 15-minute film role that is shown in a darkened theater. A parking guard talks about the events of December 7, 1941. Her tone is friendly and respectful, without the arduous nationalism, which is so often present in conversations about modern American (and British) warfare.

We see recordings of this historical morning, we hear stories from soldiers who were wiped out in seconds, of entire ships that were destroyed within minutes. We imagine the fear and hysteria, chaos and courage, and although it happened to other people in another place at another time, Pearl Harbor manages to hit us a dumpling.

When the role ends, the house lights start. Members of the audience stand there, hair and buttons smooth out coats to regain the version.

We leave the theater and go to the place of the sunken USS Arizona on board a boat, which is still just a few hundred meters off the coast under the water surface. Its sunken fuselage rusts and falls, is weathered by decades of corrosion and still licks ink -black oil that was spilled on that tragic morning.

We walk around the white, quiet monument and take the names of the 1,102 seafarers who died on the Arizona that day. There were 1,512 on board.

• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"
• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"
• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"
• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"
• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"
• Alt = "Photos of Pearl Harbor Memorial"

When the last and final bomb met the Arizona during the two -hour air raid on December 7, 1941, she penetrated into the armored deck near the ammunition warehouse and detonated the magazines in a catastrophic explosion. Over half of the people who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor died on board the USS Arizona.

In this sense, visitors explore the installation almost noiselessly. When we walk around, I notice that this monument, just like the beaches of Normandy, stimulates silent memory. There are no explanatory videos or large infographics and shocking statistics that are paved over the walls. In fact, I am worried that it could be overwhelming for the non-history fan.

I contact Kia. "I'm sorry that there is no longer any vision."

She smiles back. "It doesn't have to be. Not here."

She holds my hand and together we take the boat back to the bank.

Regardless of whether you are Americans or not, a person interested in history or just an interested party, the Pearl Harbor Memorial beats the same moving grade. The correct hint.

Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days To The Attack transforms the preparation for the most notorious day in American history into a ticking time bomb thriller. Never before has a story that she thought to know it was so impossible to put them out of their hands.
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