Standing on the memorial, I can see and smell the oil slicks floating on the water’s surface below. The heavy oil smell hangs in the air. Reflecting on the lives lost, young men cut down so early in life, saddens me. The rusted ship below us, a metal tomb for many of the 1,177 officers and crewmen who lost their lives on December 7, 1941, magnifies the horror of these events and of war in general.
Oil continues to rise from the sunken battleship, 75 years later
The ship’s hulk is visible just below the surface
The memorial runs beside the ship’s main mast
Pearl Harbor and the bridge connecting Ford Island with it in the distance
A gun turret rises above the water
