The United States has many hallowed battlegrounds. None are quite like Pearl Harbor. It takes only a brief visit to the USS Arizona Memorial to understand why.

On a recent visit, the smell of oil and aging steel were prevalent as soon as I entered the main area of the memorial overlooking the remains of the ship. In the early morning of Dec. 7, 1941, a bomb was dropped near the ship’s forward magazines during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The ensuing blast killed more than half of the 2,400 Americans killed in the attack. Today, more than 900 bodies are still underwater inside the sunken ship.