A fictional historical story about the U.S.S. Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack of World War II. Selected by Rachel Carson Middle School to compete in the Promising Young Writers Competition and won at the state level (2011).
I went back today. They opened the memorial of the U.S.S. Arizona. These men will finally be recognized for the most powerful sacrifice a man can give. Only bits of the ship are still visible, the rest is surrounded by water, along with my family. I can still hear the cries of terror. I read over the names of the dead, “Delbert Jake Anderson, Edward Lee Christiansen,” it went on and on. To others, these names might mean nothing, but to me, I knew them, I knew them well. These men will finally be remembered as what they are: heroes. When I reached Clay Cooper, my heart ached. I love you, brother. A tear slid down my cheek as I thought of him. “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies.” How long ago we said these words. We honored that oath with our lives and it was not in vain. As I lean over the railing that separates me from my brothers, I think of our family and our home. I think of our laughs, but how they stopped and all there was, was blood, ashes, and oil. I watch that same oil continue to guzzle out. A myth is going around that Arizona won’t stop guzzling out oil until every last survivor is dead. I guess I won’t get to see the outcome. On the count of three, I will drop this journal into the water where my brothers lay; it feels like my own special token to the dead. It will feel like a part of me is down there with them, but truthfully, I think part of me did sink on that ship.
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