In: Heartwarming, High-Res, Humanity
After all these years, they remember the names (7 Photos)
The USS Arizona Memorial
Many of their brothers still lie entombed in the belly of the Arizona. In all, 1,177 perished after an armor-piercing bomb tore through the deck and ignited her forward ammunition magazine. The battleship exploded and sank.
Two years ago, on the ferry to the USS Arizona, our tour guide told me privately, “These men are the true torchbearers, when the last of them passes away we will begin to forget, that’s the way of things. 492 WWII veterans die every day. When I dock the boat and walk us to the memorial you’ll notice these men possess a quality lost on our generation. They remember the names on the wall. They will recite them. They will even tell you what they were doing the very last time they saw them.”