One Saturday morning in early May, I awoke to find a private message from a colleague (a fellow Red Sox fan) who has an extensive and incredible baseball memorabilia collection. Sadly, the timing never seemed to work and if it did, the bidding-competition was far to fierce and would drive cost (to acquire) the item out of the range of possibility as was the case for the pre-war USS Arizona enlisted manвЂ™s flat hat, including the ship-named Talley (see: A Piece of the Day of Infamy or Simply a Connection to an Historic Ship?). With 100 ships present (and thousands of service men and women) around the harbor that day, it would seem to make sense that an artifact of note would surface in that time. The attack on Pearl Harbor along with several key military installations throughout the Island of Oahu would seem to provide an ample field of artifacts from which to source over the course of a decade.

Those visits to Pearl Harbor both as an inquisitive historian and as an active duty Navy veteran left this author inspired and on a perpetual quest to secure a Pearl Harbor-connected artifact for our collection. No doubt, there are dome concerns regarding the ethics and morals surrounding a private citizen possessing an unrelated veteranвЂ™s medals which is a topic of separate discussion (see: The Merits of Heart Collecting). Photo albums, medals or uniform items obtained from a veteran who was present on that day provide historians and militaria collectors with a tangible connection to this considerably pivotal moment in history. The center is filled with artifacts (many of which belonged to individual crew members) from inside the ship allowing visitors to see a more personal side of the carnage.ДЇor many collectors of antiques and military artifacts (militaria), items from a veteran or pieces that are attributable to Decemare highly sought after. вЂњRemember Pearl HarborвЂќ and the sneak attack has been a fading klaxon call for Americans over the last few decades with a brief reminder when the United States was surprise attacked again on September 11, 2001.ДЄ visitor to the USS Arizona Memorial will be initially introduced to Pearl HarborвЂ™s history in the shore-side visitors center which includes a fantastic film about the attack. Picturing men being blown over the sides of exploding ships or jumping into the inferno of burning oil atop the waterвЂ™s surface amid the cacophony of machine gun fire and screams of burning and wounded men, isnвЂ™t difficult to envision from the decks of the memorial structure.

Looking down into the water to see the rusting twisted steel covered in sediment and marine growth as bunker fuel oil slowly seeps to the waterвЂ™s surface, one can imagine the enemy planes flying in low for torpedo runs or looking into the skies to see high-altitude bombers overhead releasing their deadly destruction. Whether it was the first of several visits to the USS Arizona Memorial or the most recent one, standing above the hulk of the ship that was at the epicenter of the start of World War II (for the United States) is incredibly emotional to consider the violence that engulfed the harbor and very somber realization that one is immediately above the final resting place for the 1,177 men who perished that day. Ninety-seven-year-old Seaman First Class, Donald Stratton, the only USS Arizona survivor to publish a memoir ( All the Gallant Men, November 22, 2016), passed away just a few months ago on February 16 leaving just two men, Lou Conter and Ken Potts, as the last living survivors from the battleship. With more than 78 years elapsed since the Day of Infamy, the handful of survivors remaining alive at present are rather few as are nearing their tenth decade of life. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.вЂќ вЂ“ Ronald ReganДЄrguably the most tragic American event in the Twentieth Century is the one that catapulted the United States into the Second World War and its memory is slipping away from the consciousness of her citizens. We didnвЂ™t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. вЂњ Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. As a nation, we have allowed ourselves to forget.

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