"Make life difficult..."
Moored at what use to be known as Pearl Harbor's famed Battleship Row, the USS Missouri Memorial is a few hundred feet from the USS Arizona Memorial. Ran by a private non-profit group, the managers of “The Mighty Mo” have volunteered to take some of the sting out of the disappointment felt by the thousands of visitors who have been denied access to the Federal Government-controlled USS Arizona Memorial, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Oct. 5, 2013.
In the wake of The White House ensuring every national park, monument and historical property is closed, and in some cases -- shackled shut, the USS Arizona Memorial has been strictly verboten to the 4,500 visitors it receives on any given day.
But with the USS Missouri’s pier roughly a football field’s distance from the Arizona, free “interpretive tours” are being offered from the end of the Missouri’s quay.
Pulling quadruple-duty, not only is the USS Arizona (BB-39) an official National Memorial, she was never decommissioned due to the mast flying the American flag never sunk when the ship was destroyed during the Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Thusly, active duty sailors are still assigned to the Battle Wagon.
The BB-39 was also designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Sadly, the Arizona is also an official US Navy Cemetery. She’s the final resting place for the 1,102 sailors and Marines who were killed during the attack.
Also shut down is War in the Pacific National Historical Park on the US Territory of Guam, which hosts upwards of a half million visitors per year.
Honoring not only the American Marines, sailors, soldiers and Coast Guardsmen who liberated the American Territory in 1944, the park also pays tribute to the Guamanian people, who endured two and a half of brutal Japanese occupation, including beatings, forced labor, torture, internment in concentration camps and many who were executed by the Japanese for refusing to renounce their loyalty to America.
During the 25th anniversary celebration in 1969 of Guam's liberation, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lemuel C. Shepherd was guest of honor by both the Territorial government and the Guamanian people.
Then a Brigadier General, Shepherd commanded the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade during the freeing of the island and her people in 1944.
Gen. Shepherd was known to have a special place in his heart not only for the people of Guam, but particularly for the men in his command who were killed in action fighting a fanatical enemy.
During his closing comments before the Guam Territorial Legislature, Gen. Shepherd told the packed house:
When I get to heaven, my men who died here during the war will be at the gate waiting for me with this question: 'Lem, was dying for Guam worth it?'
My answer to them will be that having just visited Guam recently, the answer is, you damn right it was.
"Make Life Difficult..."
As quoted by TownHall.com on Oct. 4, 2013, a rather frustrated (and anonymous) Park Ranger who was ordered to close parking lots at the home of George Washington in Mount Vernon, Va. may have summed up the feelings of many who have been ordered to carry out the directives from the higher-ups in DC:
We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can.
It’s disgusting.
