Prologue
Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawaii, 29 May 1962.
Liam stood on a small hill on the shore of Pearl Harbor and watched the gentle waves lapping against the beach. It was a warm day, and memories of the past rose in him like the tide of the ocean. Slowly, but unstoppably.
He felt the tingling in his fingers that always came when he thought of them - his friends Harry and Louis, who had been stationed with him at Pearl Harbor back then. The two men who had forever shaped his connection to the place.
It had been many decades ago when he had been a young Marine stationed on the USS Arizona. The Second World War had left its mark, and the memories of that fateful day of the attack still lay deep in his mind.
And with it, the memory of Harry and Louis.
In the midst of the approaching war, they had found each other, two men who could not have been more different. And yet they had found each other.
Harry, the best swimmer in their unit, and Louis, who had only recently been stationed at Pearl Harbor and eventually assigned to the warship USS Arizona.
It was a time of secrets and hidden feelings, a time when their love blossomed in secret. A love that was carried through the hardships and hard times of war. But like all stories, this one had its challenges, its conflicts and doubts.
Liam smiled at the thought of their journey together and how life had written their story.
The sun shone on the water, and Liam thought of the time he held close to his heart. The time that had shown him that love could be found even in the darkest of times.
He looked at the monument that had been erected over the USS Arizona still lying at the bottom of the harbour basin.
It would be opened the following day. All the veterans of the attack on Pearl Harbor who were still alive had also been invited to the opening ceremony.
Liam was curious to see who else he would meet there.
And so he stood in the port of Pearl Harbor and let the memories of that distant day pass before his inner eye. The day Harry and Louis met.
A day that changed their lives forever.
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