LETTER: FBI director disrespected sacred site
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 6 hours, 27 minutes AGO
Editor’s Note: The Columbia Basin Herald does not endorse any political measure on the February ballot. However, we do strongly encourage all of our eligible readers to vote their conscience after educating themselves regarding any item or individual before them in an election. Opinions expressed in all letters belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Columbia Basin Herald.
CBH PHOTO
The Pearl Harbor Memorial is not a tourist attraction. It is not a playground. It is not a place for thrill seeking or “exclusive experiences.” It is a burial site, a sacred tomb for the men who died aboard the USS Arizona when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Their bodies remain in that ship. Their spirits remain in that water. And for generations, Americans have treated that place with the reverence it deserves.
That is why the news of Kash Patel snorkeling at this Memorial is nothing short of shocking. It is disrespectful. And in my humble opinion, it is a desecration of an underwater tomb.
I do not care who gave permission. I do not care who arranged it. I do not care who pulled strings behind the scenes.
It happened. And for that alone, Kash Patel should be fired – immediately.
Ordinary citizens like myself have visited this hallowed site for decades. We stepped off the boat in silence. We whispered. We looked down at the oil still rising from the wreck — the “black tears of the Arizona.” We honored the men who died there. Not one of us ever asked to swim in that water. Not one of us would have dreamed of snorkeling above the remains of the fallen. Not one of us would have dared to treat a war grave like a private lagoon.
Because we understood what that place is: A tomb. A memorial. A final resting place.
To enter that water for recreation – no matter how it is dressed up – is to cross a line that should never be crossed.
Playing golf in Arlington National Cemetery would be just as abhorrent. Hosting a birthday party in the Normandy American Cemetery would be just as irreverent. We do not picnic among the dead. We do not celebrate on their graves. We honor them.
I remember standing at Normandy, overwhelmed by the endless rows of white markers – each one a life cut short, a family shattered, a sacrifice made for freedom. I cried there. Many do. Because we understand the cost.
The USS Arizona Memorial deserves that same reverence.
Kash Patel did not show it. He entered sacred ground – sacred water – and disrespected those who died for this nation.
For that, may his name live in infamy hereafter.
Duane Pitts
Moses Lake