Not only is it a solemn National Monument, but also a grave.
Like many of you, we have been there and it is an eerie and very quiet place where people naturally talk in hushed tones. I did grow up with a close friend's father who was on the Cruiser New Orleans that morning and saw the Arizona blow up from the deck of the New Orleans which was docked across the harbor.

I have nothing but respect for the site and the men who died there, but sometimes all you can do is shake your head. With that said, I also feel that the majority young men buried there would prefer a wake to a funeral. With that I interject a bit of humor.

My father was in WWII. He was a submarine torpedoman first in Australia and later in the Phillipines. He told me the story about watching a surface ship trying to dock and instead, hitting the dock. He said to the guy next to him that the captain of that ship is in BIG trouble. The guy next to him was a long-time Navy guy from before the war. He said that the captain would not be the one in trouble. Someone lower down either missed the order, scrambled the order, or did something else wrong. They were the ones, probably clear down in the engine room, that would be in trouble. My dad said he later found out that the old-guy was right.

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this will be a career-ender for pretty much everybody involved.