 December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy and forever in the memories of those who witnessed the events that transpired that day. The day began like any other day, full of life, full of possibilities. At Naval Station Pearl Harbor, more than 90 ships were resting quietly in that harbor that Sunday morning. Ships full of sons, brothers, fathers. Shortly before 0800, the first strikes by Japanese forces take place. Within the first minutes of the attack, nearly all of the battleships adjacent to Ford Island had taken bomb or torpedo hits. The USS Oklahoma sank quickly, followed by the USS West Virginia. Less than two hours after it began, 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged. What took place next would be one of the most immense dive and salvage operations to date. At 0915 that same morning, the first salvage teams were cutting through the hull of the overturned USS Oklahoma to rescue trapped sailors. Throughout 1942 and part of 1943, Navy divers worked on salvaging destroyers, supply ships, and other badly damaged vessels. The divers faced extraordinary dangers, poisonous gas, unexploded ordnance, as well as the unknown of the destruction that awaited them below. Through the course of the Pearl Harbor effort, Navy divers spent approximately 16,000 hours underwater during 4,000 dives. Contract civilian divers contributed another 4,000 diving hours. In the end, only three of the 21 ships never returned to service. We dive the world over is the Navy Diver motto, and those divers lived up to that. They were courageous, they were committed, they were brave, and they did so for their brothers in arms, their shipmates, their country. The story of the Navy divers in Pearl Harbor teaches me to be resilient, to dare to be bold, yet steady and resolute in the face of hardship, because my shipmates in my country need me to. My name is Petty Officer Melissa Nguyen Alarcon, a Navy diver, and I'm proud to carry on the tradition and determination of the Pearl Harbor Navy divers.