Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was an emotional experience. We took an audio tour of the USS Bowfin submarine. It’s amazing to think that groups of men lived inside of the cramped space for extended periods of time. I felt claustrophobic and we weren’t even entirely submerged!
Before touring the Bowfin, though, we visiting the Arizona Memorial. When we first arrived at Pearl Harbor, we found out that the Navy had made the decision not to have boat tours stop at the Arizona Memorial due to high winds. Luckily the boat tour itself was still running, so we were still able to motor by the Memorial.
Reading about and watching films about Pearl Harbor pales in comparison to actually see the wreckage of the USS Arizona, it’s form still visible as a vivid shadow just under the water’s surface. It’s easy to get lost in the action of World War II movies and to forget that what you’re watching is of real events, but sitting there in a silent boat, floating over a place where thousands of people lost their lives and where many of those people still are… it was chilling. It’s a place and event that led to my grandfather, George Scopelitis, and his three younger brothers to join the military and fight for our country. One of those brothers, Andrew Scopelitis, died in the war in 1944 when his Navy plane crashed into the Pacific ocean, his body never recovered.
Americans weren’t the only people to lose their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hawai’i was a territory of the United States until 1959, and many Hawaiian civillians lost their lives in the attack as well. Japanese involvement in the war also led to the internment of many innocent Americans of Japanese (and other nationalities) decent. During the course of the war, approximately 160 Japanese-Americans were placed in Oahu’s Honouliuli Internment Camp, the largest internment camp in Hawai’i. After the declaration of war, hundreds of thousands of Japanese-, Italian-, and German-Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps across the U.S. We drove by the site of Honouliuli Internment Camp as we left Pearl Harbor.
Inscription reads: “Few islanders went to bed that night… Outdoors there was silence… Shortly before midnight, the moon began to rise and a vivid lunar rainbow, the old Hawaiian omen for victory, arched over the dark city.” -Gwenfread Allen, author
It’s easy to get caught up in pop culture and media and to forget the true events of our past. Visiting Pearl Harbor reminded me of that, and it’s something I definitely want to take back to my students: the realization and feeling of connection to a place and people.
