Politics and Pucks

This year for the holidays my family is out in Hawaii, and it's absolutely gorgeous out here (not to mention as I write this, I'm overlooking the ocean). There's some blogging I want to catch up on, even though I promised I would have blogged almost a month ago! Anyway, there's more political and hockey blogging ahead.

While I've been out here in Hawaii, I've had an opportunity to go to Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese as an attempt to cripple the US in the Pacific Theater. The attack was a long time coming, but the event that may have started this reaction was in 1937, when the US cut off oil trade to the Japanese in retaliation to their invasion of China. The Japanese, as most of the armies in WWII did, relied on steady supplies of oil. There were parts of the war (the North African campaign, for example), where the supply of oil played a large role in the outcome. The Japanese forged alliances with the Germans as they expanded their influence into Europe, Asia, and Africa. In December 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed as the Japanese were looking to add a pacific buffer zone from the US. The the US lost many battleships, planes, and over 2,500 soldiers. The USS Arizona lost nearly 1,500.

I had an opportunity to go to the USS Arizona Memorial which is in the middle of the harbor. It is moving to think that so many men and women died on that tragic day, and all the men and women aboard that ship mostly did too. The memorial is said to still be living, as the oil is still leaking from the hull of the sunken ship. It's amazing to think how this surprise attack is the second largest loss of life on American soil (the largest is Sept. 11, 2001). It was very cool to see this site, but it was also humbling. It was a surprise attack, that the US probably could not have entirely prevented, however this should not discount the fact that many lives (including many civilians). I did find it interesting that there was some mention of Japanese internment camps, because that tends to be a taboo topic with respect to American History. It's a step in the right direction, but I'm someone who thinks we can do more to remember the horrors of that dark era in our history.

In addition to the USS Arizona, I had an opportunity to see the USS Bowfin, which is a submarine that was launched on December 8, 1941. The submarine saw many battles and is one of the most effective submarines ever launched. It only saw one minor casualty, a broken leg, in its service during WWII. The ship itself is tiny for the 80 men who lived onboard at a given time. The upkeep and audio tour of this ship was absolutely incredible and I really appreciated how they've maintained it.  Attached was the US Navy submarine museum, which was also very cool. I learned about ICBMs that can be fired from these ships in the Cold War, as well as the other subs in history. Overall, I wish I could have spent a few days there, since there is that much stuff, but it gives me more things to see next time.