Dec. 7, 1941 and Pearl Harbor: A date that still lives in infamy

HONOLULU, December 7, 2013 — Seventy-two years may have passed since the Imperial Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, but the historical shockwaves of the bombs dropped on that Day of Infamy continue to be felt and remembered in Hawaii.

Present-day Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam facilities still have concrete buildings pockmarked by strafing runs of Japanese attack planes, and the wreckage of the U.S.S. Arizona continues to leak fuel from her bunker tanks, a phenomena which some superstitious survivors believe will stop once the last Pearl Harbor survivor passes away. Partially submerged off Ford Island, the twisted remains of the battleship U.S.S. Utah can still be seen jutting above the waves, quietly resting where she sank.

Occassionally, storms and the shifting of sediment on the ocean floor expose sunken Japanese aircraft parts, misfired torpedoes and more. These and other WWII artifacts make Hawaii a treasure trove for locals and historians to see first-hand the enduring legacy of the world’s most devastating war.
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