Many of us have seen the movie Tora, Tora, Tora or the movie Pearl Harbor. For many years I have wanted to see this place. I have wanted to tour the Arizona Memorial. I can’t explain why but I have particularly wanted to see the hill that the first wave of Japanese planes flew over. There is a line in the movie Gladiator just before the Romans attack the last stronghold in Germania, where as General Maximus gives the command to attack, he says to Quintus, “Unleash hell.” As Commander Fuchida led the first wave of the attack over the mountains to begin bombing, he realized that the Japanese fleet had achieved total surprise. To communicate that to his fleet he broke radio silence and yelled, “Tora, Tora, Tora” and in a matter of moments they unleashed hell.
A bomb went through the forward deck of the Arizona and exploded an ammunition magazine. The ship was sunk in the harbor and still rests there. 1,177 died on the ship and many are entombed with the wreckage. Oil still leaks from the Arizona. I spent some time reading the names on the list of men who died on the Arizona. Several times I saw the same last name; in some cases there were three and even four men with the same last name. I felt that this couldn’t all be coincidence so I asked a tour guide about it. We learned that there were 37 sets of brothers on the ship. Twenty-three sets died that day.
When we worked on and built our Veteran’s Memorial at Marysville-Pilchuck we learned what a gold star family is. A gold star family is one who has lost a son or daughter in combat. What would it have been like to lose all of your sons in one minute? I found myself remembering Kristen Hendrix, MPHS 2006 reading the dedication along with Gold Star Mom, Betty Pearson. I remembered Katey and Kelly Robertson walking Hazel Hammond out to the memorial where she very gently touched the name of her KIA son, Jack Hammond. I thought about Marine Corporal, Jack Elkins, from Washington State who survived the Bataan death march. I remembered his grandson, Marine Lieutenant Brian Hensarling. I remembered Marine Veterans, Greg Chiaravalle and Brian Johnson, who show their respect by volunteering to maintain the Memorial.
We also toured the battleship Missouri where the Japanese formally surrendered. Again, it was all very moving.
As you walk up to the spot where you board the ferry to the Arizona Memorial there are 18 display boards on the path. Board number 16 gives information about the first wave of the attack and has a picture of Commander Fuchida.
Walking by I saw an elderly Japanese man reading this board. He was crying. It wasn’t the kind of crying where he had just a moment of being choked up with a lone tear; he was crying hard, the kind of crying you can hear not just see. I wondered what he was thinking and feeling. Was he feeling shame for the carnage his ancestors caused that Sunday morning almost 70 years ago? Was he related to one of the sailors or aviators involved in the attack? Was he related to someone else who fought in the war? Almost for sure he is; I am. Was he feeling the lifetime of pain that the families of the dead would feel? What about those families who lost all their sons in one morning? Was he feeling shame? I wondered if maybe he was crying so hard because he might even be related to Fuchida. I also wondered if maybe he cried so hard because he had family who died when the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Did he have family in Hiroshima or Nagasaki? Was he feeling a intense, seething anger for these attacks? Did he have friends and family who fought and died in the war? What was that old man feeling?
I wonder if he was feeling almost all of those things.
No matter what he thought about the past I wondered if he was feeling tremendous gratitude. All he had to do was purchase a plane ticket and show a passport to be able to stand on American soil. If I want to go to Japan all I have to do is purchase a plane ticket and show my passport. That we could both stand there did not happen without tremendous sacrifices. Maybe he was moved by those sacrifices. I surely was.
It is the weekend. Please be good. Drive your cares carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally.
P
No comments:
Post a Comment