Gonna miss you guys.
- Thread starter Jeff Olson
- Start date
As of now we finally get on the plane and guess what? They broke something in the baggage compartment and that will take an hour to fix! F$&k me!
Jeff when you get to the Arizona memorial take notice of the oil still coming to the surface from the ship. Lot's to see there . I had two uncle's that survived pearl harbor bombing {brother's} they jumped off ship and swam to shore, very lucky. I know i enjoyed it ,would go back just for the weather!!!!!
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Not really a good idea.Sounds like a fun trip, if you get drunk enough you can sleep through the flight !!!
Drink enough and you won't get on the flight.
Jeff - Ever see the movie Final Destination??
Safer than being on these wet roads still.
Not really a good idea.
Drink enough and you won't get on the flight.
Luckily for me I know just exactly when I have had enough!
Now if I could just get the Gilligans Island theme song out of my head!
Went to Pearl Harbor today. Was a very sobering experience, I got a lump in my throat a couple of times. Talked to one Vet who was there and I really can't explain the feeling I got talking to him and hearing about what he experienced that day.
Maybe one day when the kids are all out of the house. Right now if I wanna visit Hawaii I have to watch Magnum P.I. 
Visiting the Memorial really make you think doesn't it Jeff?
The ultimate sacrifice........thanks for the pics Jeff
You can watch documentaries or look at pictures but until you visit the memorial in person you really don't get the true meaning of that chapter in our history. Over the past decade or so there have been many sailors whose last wishes were to be cremated and their ashes laid to rest with their buddies on the Arizona so they now have an annual ceremony to do just that.
An amazing and very humbling experience.
I often wondered about the bodies inside the Arizona.
There was a great debate about this following December 7th. The Army wanted to make the effort to account for all of the bodies in general whereas the Navy was more concerned with not loosing any more sailors. Conditions inside the Arizona were incredibly dangerous. The stern was intact but the forward half of the ship was not. It was a jumble of jagged metal and slag, all of which could tangle and cut the air hoses and divers. The fuel oil cells had ruptured and the interior was awash in oil, making each dive almost completely blacked out. It's amazing that the Navy didn't lose more divers than they did.
If you read Edward C. Raymer's "Descent Into Darkness" you will come across a passage that describes an attempt to recover bodies from the Arizona. The bodies were badly decomposed and the divers had to haul them out of the ship one at a time and cast them to the surface where they were hauled up and placed in body bags. Their bodies were bloated and skin would slough off when handled. Many, if not most of the bodies were never identified due to the state of decomposition. Several crew members "fed the fishes" repeatedly due to the grisly nature of the work.
The Navy's position, and the Army's too after this one or two day attempt, was that it was far more dignified to leave the crew entombed in the ship. No serious attempt was ever planned for the Arizona and so there was no need to recover the bodies. At most, it was thought to raise the stern, but even this proved to be far more dangerous and expensive than it was worth. Mariner's have had a tradition of burial at sea, and leaving those entombed inside Arizona to be fits with the traditions of not only the US Navy, but that of sailors the world over.
There was a great debate about this following December 7th. The Army wanted to make the effort to account for all of the bodies in general whereas the Navy was more concerned with not loosing any more sailors. Conditions inside the Arizona were incredibly dangerous. The stern was intact but the forward half of the ship was not. It was a jumble of jagged metal and slag, all of which could tangle and cut the air hoses and divers. The fuel oil cells had ruptured and the interior was awash in oil, making each dive almost completely blacked out. It's amazing that the Navy didn't lose more divers than they did.
If you read Edward C. Raymer's "Descent Into Darkness" you will come across a passage that describes an attempt to recover bodies from the Arizona. The bodies were badly decomposed and the divers had to haul them out of the ship one at a time and cast them to the surface where they were hauled up and placed in body bags. Their bodies were bloated and skin would slough off when handled. Many, if not most of the bodies were never identified due to the state of decomposition. Several crew members "fed the fishes" repeatedly due to the grisly nature of the work.
The Navy's position, and the Army's too after this one or two day attempt, was that it was far more dignified to leave the crew entombed in the ship. No serious attempt was ever planned for the Arizona and so there was no need to recover the bodies. At most, it was thought to raise the stern, but even this proved to be far more dangerous and expensive than it was worth. Mariner's have had a tradition of burial at sea, and leaving those entombed inside Arizona to be fits with the traditions of not only the US Navy, but that of sailors the world over.
Very nice explanation blkblk. I had read part of that somewhere.
That it is, when we were looking out over the ship there was very little oil sheen on the water and then a bubble of black oil came to the surface and spread out over the water. Gave me a chill.
Can't believe the huggers haven't put a stop to that. That little bubble of oil will be coming to the surface long after all of us are gone........................I sure hope people remember what sacrifices have been made to keep this great country free.....
I hear you brother, I hear you.
