WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument

PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII -- One of the most significant and moving things I had the opportunity to do during my last trip to Hawaii, in March 2011, was to visit what is now collectively referred to as the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. I am all the more glad I was able to do as as I reflect upon this 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and hope my friends and readers will enjoy some of the photos I took during that trip.

Covering wartime events that took place in the war with Japan, the monument preserves and interprets the stories and key episodes events in the Pacific Theater leading up to the U.S. entering World War II, its effects on the mainland, and the signing of the Peace Treaty in Tokyo Bay, Japan, that marked the end of the conflict.

Here are some of the images I took of the monument, including, from the top, the following:


* The Arizona Memorial, erected over the site of USS Arizona, the great battleship sunk with more than 1,100 hands lost during the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor;




* A view from the Arizona Memorial of USS Missouri, where the ceremony recognizing the Japanese surrender took place in Tokyo Bay (note in the forground the slick of oil, still seeping up from the sunken vessel after nearly 70 years);



* The USS Bowfin, "the revenge of Pearl Harbor," an attack submarine that preyed on Japanese shipping;

* The anchor from the Arizona; and,





* One of the gun turrets of the Arizona, which protrudes above the water.