USS Arizona Memorial

The USS NEW YORK, built with 24 tons of scrap metal from the World Trade Center. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center . It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, ... Read Full Story

Four tugboats gently maneuvered the iconic World War II battleship USS Missouri into a dry dock on Wednesday, where it will undergo a major refurbishment. The vessel, now a memorial and museum, is a symbol of the fiercest Pacific battles. It has been moored for the last 11 years in Pearl Harbor, where a Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, prompted the United States to enter the war. The "Mighty Mo," the last battleship built by the United States, was also the site of Japan's surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. On Wednesday, the 887-foot-long Missouri was coaxed from its Ford Island mooring and slowly ... Read Full Story

The "Mighty Mo," the World War II battleship best known for hosting the formal surrender of Japan in 1945, is heading to the shipyard for repairs. The USS Missouri, now a decommissioned vessel called the Battleship Missouri Memorial, will leave its historic spot at Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor in October. The move will come shortly after the vessel on Wednesday hosts a ceremony marking the 64th anniversary of Japan's surrender. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, and Ret. Lt. Gen. Wallace "Chip" Gregson, newly sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Defense, are scheduled to speak at the event. At least 20 World War II ... Read Full Story

I’ve recently reached a milestone in life. Both Elsie and I registered for Social Security retirement benefits this week. We both passed our 65th birthday earlier this year, and as the arcane rules go we waited until this month to do the paperwork, timed with her impending retirement from the school system next February. Elsie is a stickler for detail; a bulldog on matters like this. Problem is she also worries them death! Three or four months she’s been working on this stuff. Thank goodness she’s doing it…I’d have never bothered. The process was complicated by the even more arcane retirement and pension benefits ... Read Full Story

USS Arizona under attack USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the underwater tomb for 1,177 Sailors and Marines Although I promote this blog as being about growing up in the 1950's and 1960's, the events at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941, heavily influenced our own generation as we grew up. Fear of the "Bomb," distrust of foreigners, primarily communists, but also of all Asian peoples, and a resolve to never be caught off guard again. Pearl Harbor, and the surprise attack, are what we recognize as the "moment" when America woke up. The following day, President Franklin D. ... Read Full Story