In Honolulu harbor there is a grave that has been leaking oil - just a few drops at a time - for 70 years.
For those familiar with the fate of the USS Arizona, those drops are referred to as "the tears of the Arizona," for entombed in the battleship that rests on the floor of that harbor are 1,102 sailors who died 70 years ago today.
The ship can be clearly seen from the memorial that mimics a ship's bridge above the surface of the clear water. The view is clear. The place is solemn as it should be.
Not only is it a place to grieve the deaths of so many young men, but a place to contemplate war, peace and the sometimes blurry line that divides those two concepts.
Flags around America will be lowered today, silence will prevail at about five minutes to 8 this morning, the moment the first Japanese planes dropped bombs on America's Pacific Fleet and thrust us into World War II.
Few veterans of that day are left among us. For them it is a day of personal reflection, recalling not just the horror, but the loss of comrades.
Five memorials are being held in Pearl Harbor this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind.
Divers will place the remains of one sailor on the USS Utah and another on the USS Arizona. The ashes of three others will be scattered in the harbor.
Jim Taylor, a retired sailor who coordinates the ceremonies, says the survivors want to return and be with their shipmates.
And they shall.