Ocean floor graveyards
A Boeing-767 passenger airplane owned by EgyptAir exploded in mid-air recently near Nantucket Island (U.S.) on its way from New York to Cairo. All of the 214 passengers, including the crew, perished and all found their graveyard at the bottom of the sea. Not one body surfaced. This means that the dead bodies of the passengers are still trapped inside the wrecked aircraft which is now resting on the ocean floor.
In August 1999 when I joined a travel tour to the West Coast of the United States, the group comprising 20 persons stopped at Honolulu (Hawaii) to see the place where on Dec. 7, 1941, at 8 a.m. Japanese Kami Kaze (Divine Wind) bombers made a surprise attack on the American giant aircraft carriers Arizona and Oklahoma and many other vessels which at that moment were lying at anchor in the harbor. Many ships were sunk, and I believe that many dead sailors are still inside the sunken ships. The wreckage of the ships can still be seen; our tour guide pointed to a gun- turret of one of the ships, which was still visible despite being otherwise wholly submerged.
Amid the serene and peaceful surrounding atmosphere of Pearl Harbor, it is hard to imagine that 58 years ago, many people lost their lives at this place, in an event which actually started the Pacific War. Likewise, the famous Titanic cruise vessel with thousands of passengers on board sank into the ocean many years ago. The corpses of the passengers remain inside the sunken vessel as of this day.
Many warring vessels were sunk during World War II, including submarines, so I believe that the dead crew members are still entrapped in the sunken ships. What a dismal way of meeting ones' untimely end. This also implies that the ocean floor becomes one huge cemetery. At Pearl Harbor I saw two U.S. soldiers raising the American flags one by one. After a flag reached the top of the flagpole, it was hauled down and another flag was hoisted and hauled down again. This went on and on.
Later on the flags which underwent this procedure were sold to the public. A unique phenomenon that I have never seen in other countries. Perhaps the flags, raised and hauled down on that flagpole, have special value. The Dutch saying goes: 's Lands wijs 's lands eer (A country's custom is the country's pride).
A. DJUANA
Jakarta