Pearl Harbor, Hawaii #068

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The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, preemptive military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

At the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, learn about one of the most pivotal moments in US history: the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II.

The memorial relies on citizens like you donating family heirlooms, memorabilia, photographs, and diaries to tell the Pacific War story.

There were lots of memorial programs about Pearl Harbor recently, but I have heard that the wreckage of the USS Arizona, which lies below the memorial there, is still leaking fuel oil into the bay and that it will continue to kill fish and krill for a long time.

Sadly, it is true and here’s a statistic to further boggle your mind; at its current estimated rate of leakage, the USS Arizona may continue to ooze oil for more than 500 years into the future.

Right now, the historic ship, on which nearly 1,200 servicemen lost their lives, should be the least of your worries when it comes to the environmental disaster that has hit Pearl Harbor since the U.S. Navy opened a naval base there in 1899.

According to one count, the area has hundreds of documented areas of contamination that include millions of gallons of fuel spilled over the years.  Look at the oil spots in some of the photos - it's told "those are the teardrops"!  In fact, visitors sometimes refer to the constant oil coating on the water as “tears of the Arizona” or “black tears.”

To protect the USS Arizona — Pearl Harbor's WWII Memorial ... it was never forgotten — “Remember Pearl Harbor” became the rallying cry for a nation fully 

As the battleship gradually rusts and collapses, the oil's release is inevitable.

You can check out the photos below of our great trip to Pearl Harbor!