Solace

66 years ago today maked the attack on Pearl Harbor. While I was looking at pictures of that day of infamy, I ran across this one in color of the USS Arizona's forward magazines exploding.

I wondered about the picture and where it came from. It turns out it is a still from a color motion picture taken from the USS Solace who was also there in Pearl Harbor, anchored just astern of the Nevada.

I had never heard of this ship before and was interested in how it could be filming this while everyone was scrambling.

It turns out the Solace was a hospital ship used as far back as the Spanish American War that took on the most dangerously injured sailors. As a hospital ship it didn't make any offensive action against the Japanese attackers, but immediately went after those in the water needing rescue.

Here is a personal account of Bob Addobati who was on the Solace during the attack. Here is the official report on the attack and the Solace's actions that day. Today, let's remember all the heroes of that day whether on the Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, or little-known ships such as the Solace.