A Day I Will Remember Forever

When my wife and I decided on Hawaii as our honeymoon destination I had one demand WE HAVE TO GO TO PEARL HARBOR! I know how life is and I didn’t know if we would ever return to Hawaii and I did not want to miss out on seeing a major part of US history. What I did not expect was our visit to Pearl Harbor to be an emotional life changing experience.

My wife could seriously be a professional Hawaiian travel agent. She booked on her own so of the greatest trips for us in Hawaii and Pearl Harbor was no different. About the only bad thing about the trip is we had to get up at 5:00am to catch a flight from Kauai to Oahu. When we arrived at Pearl Harbor the day begin with an amazing surprise. Our tour guide pointed to a gigantic air craft carrier. He informed us that is was the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was docked at Pearl Harbor. The ship arrived the night before. It was the ships first return to U.S. soil. Seeing any active air craft carrier would be cool, but what made this one so special was that the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was the ship Osama Bin Laden’s body was dumped off of.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43322149/ns/us_news-security/t/ship-buried-bin-laden-docks-pearl-harbor/

I am not one to celebrate a death or take joy in it. In fact I am against the death penalty. I can’t explain the logic in it, or defend the hypocrisy, but I was very happy that we got Bin Laden. It was a moving and chilling honor to see the ship and the brave men and women who serve on it, in fact at one point we were about 15 feet away from it.

That would be enough for one day but the day got better. We sat down to watch a video about World War II and the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I have been a World War II junkie since third grade, however much of my focus has always been on the Europe side following the Holocaust. Once the video was over we were instructed to board a small Navy ship that would take us over

to the USS Arizona. I was already a bit emotional to this point, just thinking about all the brave soldiers, my families long military history, and what I was about to see. Sandy and I sat down and then it happened. An older gentleman boarded the ship wearing his Navy hat decorated with many medals and pins highlighting his service. As he boarded it was announced that he was a survivor of the U.S.S. Arizona. His namewas Allen Bodenlos, he sat down right next to Sandy and I and I lost it, I just started sobbing.

The boat traveled to the Arizona and Allen was saluted and allowed to get off the boat first. He traveled to theback to look at the list of his friends who did not survive the attacks. Nobody went intothat part of the memorial until he was done. I found out his back story.

Allen was a part of the ships band. He was off the ship to get some music supplies. He returned just as the big bomb dropped on the Arizona. Allen ended up serving in World War II and did two tours in Korea. When he finished looking at the wall I walked up to him, I didn’t want to disturb him, but I felt I had to meet him. I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said he would love to. I told him thank you for all that he has done for our country and all he has sacrificed. Finally, I told him God Bless You! He replied He already has. I again begin to sob (you had to be there, VERY emotional).

I did not realize that the Arizona still was so close to the surface. Seeing the ship, the oil bubbling to the surface, you could feel the presence of the past. I never heard people young and old so silent and almost gasping for air. Everyone visiting was floored. Sadness quickly turned to pride with our final stop on the tour.

U.S.S. Missouri, the ship Japan surrendered on. Words do no justice to the feeling of pride and awe I felt standing on the same ship, in the same spot that General McArthur stood as Japan surrendered to the United States.

Pearl Harbor is a must for any person who visits Hawaii. You must visit Pearl Harbor, it's your Patriotic duty! God Bless America. Pearl Harbor is a day that I remember forever!