Things I Never Thought About.

I joined the Navy right out of high school. Almost the day I granduated my butt was on a plane (for the first time I might add) headed for Great Lakes. After boot camp we got our orders. Mine were for Pearl Harbor, HI. I think I had to read this about four times before it started to sink in that I was about to be stationed in Hawaii. I called my parents and how excited were they that a girl from the desert gets to be stationed in paradise. It never occured to me that this is where we were forced into WWII. There is a lot of history in Hawaii and I never bothered to pay attention to that until I arrived.

The first time I drove around the island was about six months after I got there. My friends and I past the pineapple fields and guess what? They grow IN THE GROUND. It is not that I did not know that they did not grow on trees, it is just that it was not one of those things I thought about. I assumed that they were like watermelon or pumpkins growing on vines or something of that nature.

I was surprized to find out once again that the place I consider my home has one more thing I never thought about. The USS Arizona was one of the many ships that sank during the Pearl Harbor attacks. It is the one that has a memorial above it and travelors can come and visit and pay their respects. When the Arizona sank the only thing above the water was the superstructure. The top most part of the ship for those of you who do not know. I never thought about what they did with this hunk of metal once it was removed to put the memorial in. Well, I found out. It is somewhere in Waipio just laying around collecting dust and rusting out. I was able to get some pictures from a friend and I am posting them here. Eventually the Navy would like to clean this stuff up and make it a makeshift memorial as well.