Fading into History, Pearl Harbor

[tdogchristy90]

A recent trip to Pearl Harbor as well as reading something today that tugged on me, compelled me to write about it.

 

Today, December 7, 2025, is the first time that no Pearl Harbor Survivors will be at the NPS ceremonies honoring the anniversary of the day that will live in infamy. There are only 12 witnesses to the event still alive and one, which had planned to attend the ceremonies, fell sick and could not go. So while these witnesses are still around, they are all centurions and fading into history.

 

As a public historian who makes story telling his life and is also a hobby I enjoy in my free time, the fading into history part of an event saddens me in a way I find hard to explain to a layperson. History, specifically history associated with a major collective significance, is something I find very tangible. The thing actually happened. We have tons of documentation on the event. We can visit the place it happened, be it Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Battlefield at Antietam, the deadliest day in American History, or the USS Arizona Memorial which commemorates the lives lost in the event that brought the United States into World War Two. We can see and touch the artifacts in museums and archives. Finally we have the people who remember the event, we can talk to them, learn from them, get insight about their memories of the event. However, with the loss of those who remember an event, that event does fade into history.

 

It is this fading into history that saddens me. Losing those who actually remember an event, who were actually there, that human connection that links us to the past being severed, and no one being left who remembers and thus the event truly fading into history is a type of loss, like I said above, which is hard to articulate into words. We still have the places and the objects tied to an event, and for me there’s a visceral reaction when coming into contact with these things. It’s the human, tangible, amazement that comes from visiting an actual place of an event that happened in human history. Like wow, this is real, the grass of this battlefield is running through my fingers.

 

With the loss of those who remember an event we lose one of those anchors that ties us to that event. More profoundly we lose the human, personal, flesh and blood of an event. We no longer get to talk to our fellow humans about the event, learn their experiences, and interact with someone who was there. The event does fade into history. Yes, we still have the places and the items associated with an event. We still have some tangibles that link us to the event. However, there is something about the people, the humanity of an event, fading into history, that saddens me. Truly becoming history. Truly becoming a day which will live in infamy.

 

I absolutely love what I do. I love you guys. I love the community, the hobby. Visiting Pearl Harbor was an absolute bucket list trip for me. I love history, full stop. Thank you guys and rest in peace to those who have gone before us. Keep the memory alive. Without a witness, they just disappear. 

 

[USMC8287]

What a great thought provoking honorable post. It’s up to us to keep history alive and relevant. Those on this forum take that duty seriously and that’s why I am so proud to be a member. 
Now concerning the anniversary of December's 7th attack Pearl Harbor I would like to submit a dedication to the men who served on the Arizona from her birth October 17, 1916 until her death. Pictured are Irving Cornish USMC Bell Crown, Tunic, and service documentation from WWI USS Arizona and Dale Deen Bicknell’s Purple Heart. Let us not forget. RIP. 

[carbinephalen]

Here’s a display I did on my base today. My visit to Pearl last month really was humbling. 

[carbinephalen]

If you’re a member of the Facebook group, here is a link to all the photos I took of the still visible battle damage on the bases

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/346212962178612/permalink/3957232317743307/?app=fbl

[VNAMVET70]

 My father was in college when the Japanese made the mistake of their cowardly assault on Hawaii.  The Japs made a colassal mistake waking a  sleeping giant. Dad dropped out of college and enlisted immediately. Off to war Dad went to earn a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.