The sun rose, spreading its light into the clear sky, a moment of indescribable peace and tranquility. Across the harbor, the water lay almost glassy. It was eerily similar to another morning 83 years earlier, that Day of Infamy; December 7th, 1941.
That day, however, the calm was suddenly broken by the roar
of aircraft and the shocking explosions that heralded the beginning of a new
war.
This day, however, the peaceful calm remained intact. On the
north side of Ford Island the destroyer USS Carl Levin and the submarine USS
Hawai'i moved through the water with reverent dignity. The drawbridge
connecting the island to Honolulu had been pulled aside, and the two vessels
made their way through, passing alongside the grave of a ship that has always
been the symbol of that attack. As they came abeam of the USS Arizona Memorial, a
whistle sounded across the water and the white-clad sailors manning the rails
came to attention. This has always been the tradition. When any Navy ship
passes the graceful white memorial, they render honors in respect partly for
the old battleship, but just as much for the 1,177 men who remain entombed
within the ship.
At the appointed moment, 7:55 AM, or 07:55 in Navy speak,
there was a sudden roar from the south. A formation of four F-22 Raptor
fighters from the Hawai'i Air National Guard swept in low. Just as they reached
the memorial, one aircraft went vertical, knifing into the brilliantly blue sky
accompanied by the roar of afterburners. It was the traditional "missing
man formation," the moving salute to the fallen. Across the harbor, at the
Arizona Memorial Visitors Center, a 103-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor rose
from his wheelchair to render a salute.
