Remembering Pearl Harbor

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AXiD670

. . . it got me wondering how people of my generation feel about Pearl Harbor. Is it just a history lesson? Did 9-11 make it seem more "real" to you?

I think I may be a generation ahead of you -- I'm a Baby Boomer -- so my father was in WWII. Europe, though, not the Pacific. He rarely talked about it. I heard more stories from my mother, who was in college at the time, and could tell the homefront side of things. Definitely not just a history lesson for me.

Originally Posted by tinydancer

I've visited the Arizona Memorial twice. It's a very emotional experience, I must say.

Agreed. The oddest thing about it to me, however, was that the all of the visitors on the boat that came to pick us up from the Memorial were Japanese. I've spent a long time thinking about that.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Agreed. The oddest thing about it to me, however, was that the all of the visitors on the boat that came to pick us up from the Memorial were Japanese. I've spent a long time thinking about that.

I agree. I know that, for a lot of the Japanese tourists, it's more than just a stop on the tour. So many of them, even if they weren't even alive at the time of the bombing, have tremendous guilt and shame for what happened on December 7th. I think they have a word for it too.. haji, I think.