Tranquility, Pearl Harbor 12/7/41 Options

[Guest_Zeus˛_*]

Faery Award Winner
 
*Graphic provided by
Celtic Castle Designs

   

Tranquility

When you arrive in the Hawaiian Islands,
this serene, beautiful place overwhelms you
the cocoanut trees, the foaming surf
leisurely lifestyle, colorful flora,

but
there is one place that is above all  others,
Pearl Harbor
there in eternal tranquility  lies the
USS ARIZONA
below the waters and now honored
with a befitting memorial,

to describe the area from where my ship berthed…
standing amidships and looking aft
was the broad channel  from the Pacific
that was the entrance  to the naval base

looking forward was the shipyard and all ship’s berths
directly across from our ship was Ford Island
and within that line of site is the ARIZONA
When I was there the memorial wasn’t built
only a wood platform with a flagpole

The ARIZONA is still in commission,
each morning and evening a launch would go
to the platform for morning reveille and
evening taps

speakers on the base would announce
“attention to colors”
traffic would halt
every sailor on shore would face toward the
ARIZONA

while they played the music and the colors were
run up or down the flagstaff
everyone saluted

the most outstanding tribute was when the
task forces were rotating,
from the Korean War

We could see the ships, steaming into port
first the destroyers, then cruisers,
battleships and finally the carriers
and as each ship approached
the USS ARIZONA

on the ship’s PA you would hear
“attention to starboard
Hand Salute”
all  sailors manning the rails would salute
and the quartermaster would slowly lower the flag
to half mast

Each and every ship would render honors
when the carriers came by
four thousand men on the flight deck
in unison  saluted

A fitting tribute that still goes on today
I haven’t been back  in over fifty years
but writing about it, puts me there again.
Aloha… Shipmates.

[Cleo_Serapis]

Very nice Lar!

What a wonderful re-telling of your memoirs!

Did you mean to put this in a non-crit forum?  :xmas:  :sun:

Lori  

[Guest_Zeus˛_*]

Hi Lor,
Thanks for your comments. Did think of putting it elsewhere, just hard
to figure where.
Larry

[Arnfinn]

How ya goin Larry.


Very interesting... All the naval vessels...still show respect to the fallen to this very day... Very touching....

I said before in another thread ...you should continue writing about the sea. The sea and whats happening on it and around it ... always makes interesting and read.

Thanks for the excellant post.


Arnie

[Charon]

Lar,

Just staggered across this, nicely done.

I joined the Navy on December 7, 1966 - 25 years after Pearl.  Served four years active and two years inactive. Stationed in San Diego, Memphis (when MLK was shot), and Meridian, Miss (when Charles Tarrants III blew up all the synagogues and stuff.)  

I had two uncles who served in the Navy during WWII, both injured, one on destroyers (had one sunk underneath him), the other on the Enterprise.  I lost two cousins on the Arizona.  My high school, Lafayette, has a tribute to them in a room called the Memorial Room.

Proud of the facts and as you know I love America, and the people who live in it.

Go Yanks, but not dem damn Yankees.

Thanks for sharing.

Butch
Tradevman 2nd Class (Ground school instructor for entry level jet pilots)
US Navy 12.7.1966 to 12.6.1972
Salute

[Athena]

Hey Larry,

What a marvelous way to share not only your writing ability, but also your memories of a truly monumental time in history!  You've told this so very well!

Thanks for a good read, friend,  

Dolly    :butterfly:

[Guest_Zeus˛_*]

Arnie,
Thank you for your comments.
As to writing about the sea, I have been away so long, a committed landlubber so to speak.The closest I get to water is in the summer at the swimming pools here in my community. But will try hard to think of some delightful instances from the past.
Larry

[Guest_Zeus˛_*]

Gerry, Thanks for the nice words.
To the best of my knowledge, The Arizona is still considered a ship of the line and in commission. And all honors and respect will be displayed. Could say this is a great lesson for all the visitors and armed forces who pass by, how our free system of government works.
Larry

[Guest_codger_*]

Just come across this by accident.

What a super tribute, hope it still goes on---  

Gerry.

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hey Lar.

If you want, we can move this one into Plato's Pearls or Garden of Eden if you like?

Let me know ok?

[Cleo_Serapis]

Congrats Lar!

This is a Faery Award winner for sure!

~Cleo :pharoah2