The Honolulu Advertiser just ran a piece that will interest many including those interested in battlefield preservation. Ewa Field was one of the many airfields struck by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 during the raid on Pearl Harbor. Most of the fields 50 planes were destroyed on the ground and several marines died. The area is now targeted for development and a local preservationist is making a bid to save the ground.
Hats off to Jonathan Beard for this sending along this piece.
After reviewing hundreds of articles written this June 6, 2008 to commemorate D-Day one has really stuck out for me as worthy of praise.
Robert Kauffman’s Waves of Omaha Beach is a really a remarkable article exploring the emotional pull of the American cemetery at St. Laurent sur Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. Kauffman, after visiting the grave of a fallen American soldier, writes:
I’d like to cry out to all of those young men: ”You were robbed of the most sublime gift that we possess, your very lives. But we, too, were robbed — of you and your love, your hopes, your dreams and your aspirations; of those thousands of precious sons and daughters you never had the privilege to father and who would have borne the image of your greatness; of those thousands of grandchildren you would never hold or hug or kiss.
The article is worth reading because it is so different from the standard anniversary articles full of gore and triumphalism.
Famed shipwreck hunter David Mearns has located the HMAS Sydney in nearly 3 km of water off the West Australian coast.
The ship went down with all hands (645 souls) after an encounter with the German raider Kormoran on November 19, 1941. The loss of the ship has long been a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists in Australia because of its uncertain fate. At the time of the loss, the Sydney was the most powerful ship in the Royal Australian Navy.
For more on the find, the lingering controversy and much more check out these two links:
