I am a park ranger at World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument (formerly named the USS Arizona Memorial National Memorial). Our story is now of the entire war in the Pacific. We host approximately 1.7 million people a year from all over the world. Our site is the most visited site on the Hawaiian islands. It is amazing to me how many people come to the site because they are told by others that they must but they really don’t understand why the story is important. If the National Park Service did not tell this story, it may be lost in the annals of history. That would be a national shame. We must protect our national monuments and the stories they tell.
Sincerely,
Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Lying beneath the surface of the calm waters of Pearl Harbor, just outside downtown Honolulu are the remains of the USS Arizona and the more than 1,000 members of the boat's crew who lost their lives when it sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A stark white memorial rises out of the water above the sunken ship to commemorate the Arizona sailors and all of the civilians and servicemen and women who were killed on that "date which will live in infamy." Parts of the ship can be seen from the memorial, as well as dark slicks from the oil that still leaks from the ship more than 65 years later. The interior of the memorial displays the names of all the Arizona sailors who perished along with the names of crew members who survived the Pearl Harbor attack yet chose to be buried with their shipmates.
State(s): Hawaii
Established: 1980
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Greetings from Pearl Harbor National Memorial
My two-week trip to Hawaii in June of 2000, came at the end of a three-month backpacking trip in the South Pacific (a reward to myself for passing the CPA exam). I used an Island hopper pass to tour five Islands. By the time I arrived back in Oahu, I’d…
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Greetings from Pearl Harbor National Memorial
I was stationed in Hawaii twice in my military career and now reside on Oahu. I have been to the USS Arizona numerous times with visiting friends and family. The many upgrades to the visitor's center and visitor experience over the years is outstanding and only gets better with each…
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Greetings from New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
This summer, my friends and I held our annual camping trip in New River Gorge National Park. As young adults, (some of us are still students) a lot of vacation spots are out of our price range, but public lands like national parks allow us to spend time together without…
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