Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2012

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Days 2012

Five years ago our house burned down in the San Diego County Witch Fire. Five years ago I went to Ireland with a good friend on a girls road trip (yep, we drove the winding, crazy, narrow roads of Ireland). And, five years ago I went to Hawaii with my family (Mom, Dad, Charlie and my sister’s Gail and Dawn, plus Dawn’s husband, Jay) and during that trip, we visited Pearl Harbor.

While my father is a veteran (of the Vietnam War), he is not a veteran of World War II. He was 12-years-old on December 7, 1941 and on December 8, 1941, he and his family were captured by the Japanese and interred at a camp in the Philippines for almost four years (read tomorrow’s post for more details). So, it was important to him that he see the Pearl Harbor Memorial because he had not seen it before.

However, five years ago my father was not well (and he’s still not well today). And, per earlier posts, my husband (Charlie) is handicapped. So, there the 7 of us were in Oahu, Hawaii crammed into a 2-bedroom condo and driving a large passenger van with two people in wheelchairs! While this may not sound like fun to most of you, we had the most wonderful time together and that trip is a memory I’ll always cherish. I’ll write more about that trip in future posts including our side trips on the “Road to Walmart” (pretty hilarious, so stay tuned!).

Anyway, the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor is a simple site. A few floating structures in the water that you can visit via boat and then back on land, a very nice museum. And, although simple in appearance, the Memorial is still humbling – all those unnecessary lives lost.

All of the following pictures were taken by my sister, Dawn. Somehow, on the flight back from Hawaii, I lost my camera and never recovered it from the airline. And, then a few week later, we lost our home in the fire.