It Still Matters   

   Saturday, Dec. 7, marked the last of 44 USS Arizona survivors whose ashes are interred on the battleship at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. 
We didn't know veterans did this. 

   It tells us of the enormity sailors and marines experienced that fateful Sunday morning in 1941. Millions of Americans were shocked by the surprise attack - by a country that had not declared war. 

   For those who survived the carnage, these terrible moments left a scar on the heart that surpassed all other days of their lives, before and after. 

   It is fitting that the 44 men were cremated before divers carried their remains into the wreckage where 900 (of 1177 deaths) of their mates were cremated in a moment. 
A huge bomb struck Arizona's ammunition supply, which exploded with enough power to lift the ship out of the water.

   What remained burned for 2-1/2 days at temps up to 8000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than a volcano. It's amazing that anyone survived; those who did suffered burns and other injuries.

   Elvis Presley helped raise funds for a memorial over the open grave - 
where 2 million still visit each year - with a concert in 1961. 

   Three remaining survivors plan to be buried in family plots. 

   Pearl Harbor and the two-front war that followed convinced U.S. leaders that neutrality doesn't work well in a fallen world. Today, we engage the world with diplomacy, and economically and militarily. 
 

Arizona Memorial

   Hence, there is cross training with foreigners as a means of building good relations. Then a Saudi lieutenant pulls a handgun and kills three unarmed Americans at Naval Air Station Pensacola. 

      Jimmy