70 Years After The Attack on Pearl Harbour, USS Arizona is Still 'Crying'

Pearl Harbour 70 Years Ago

Pearl Harbour - Seven decades have passed since the sinking of the USS Arizona by Japanese aircraft attack on Pearl Harbour. Now, the vessel is still issuing a 'tear', weeping over thousands of troops the United States (U.S.) who were killed in the attack. People call 'the black tears'.

As reported by AFP on Sunday (12/04/2011), on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the Hawaiian Islands and sank 20 ships and 164 aircraft destroyed. Japanese for the attack, U.S. President at that time, Franklin Roosevelt declared war against Japan.

2400 recorded U.S. soldiers were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbour. 1177 soldiers were killed on the USS Arizona, when a bomb hit the ammunition storage ship and burn the ship. The fire in the ship's new flame extinguished after 3 days.


Now the wreck of the USS Arizona is still there. In one of the mast that appears above sea level, there is a U.S. flag flying. Every day hundreds of visitors can see it.

"It's a big piece of history. It's very strong," said a tourist from Canada. The place is now expressed as mass graves of war victims.

USS Arizona

Surprisingly, in these wrecks every day, black discharge from the ocean floor and looks up to the surface water. "Some people call it the black tear (black tears), as if the soldiers are still crying from inside the ship," said a guide.

So whether it's black tears? Before the attack, the USS Arizona just completed 5700 tonnes of fuel. Some of the fuel tank when the explosion destroyed, but some were not destroyed. Since then, the ship was issued sebannyak fuel oil 3.5 liters a day.

"We do not really know how much oil is left in there," says one historian, Daniel Martinez. "No big deal about the environment," he added.

Martinez, who had several times to dive into the hull of a ship called the USS Arizona wreck attracts thousands of species of fish. "There are two turtles that live there," he explained.

On Wednesday (7 / 12) future, one hundred soldiers who survived the Japanese attack, will conduct a memorial parade at the U.S. naval base. The flag will be flown at half mast throughout the region in the U.S.. Also for one minute's silence will be conducted at 7:55 o'clock pm local time or 17:55 pm.

In the afternoon, the ash from the Vernon Olson, a former soldier USS Arizona who died a year ago, will be dispersed in the vessel. Since 1941, carrying about 30 sailors who survived the USS Arizona, joined back together with his colleagues in the cemetery under the water.

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