That old saying about a picture being worth 1,000 words? There’s a reason everybody says it:
(Navy via aircraft carrier Nimitz Facebook page)
A few words, anyway: As the striking photo above — part landscape, part history lesson — shows, the crew of the aircraft carrier Nimitz made its way to Pearl Harbor on Tuesday, en route to a pre-Christmas homecoming in Everett, Wash. As the ship passed by the USS Arizona Memorial, sailors and Marines paid tribute to fellow service members lost during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack.
“Every time I stand up there, I feel goosebumps when we pass the Arizona,” Interior Communications 2nd Class Michalle Boyce said in a Navy news release announcing the carrier’s stopover. “It is a very powerful experience.”
Boyce’s grandfather served on the battleship Oklahoma during the attack, according to the release. No matter her ship or her duty schedule, every time volunteers were sought to man the rails in Pearl Harbor, she’s been among them.
Nimitz, which left Everett in late March, is scheduled for a stop in San Diego before heading home at year’s end, according to the Navy. The carrier’s time at sea was extended as part of the fleet’s response to the Syria crisis, although 8 1/2 months isn’t far off the “new norm” for deployments.
Speaking of the new normal — what do you do with such an inspiring picture? Make it your Facebook cover photo, of course.
