GB and family arrived Thursday evening to find it raining lightly at Honolulu. Like much of the Midwest, Honolulu has been dry and needed the rain, so no one was complaining about it. By the time we had secured our luggage, TD was waiting to give us a ride.
The Navy Lodge is on Ford Island, smack in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Ford Island is where all the Battleships were moored on 7 Dec 41... it's also where all the airplanes were perfectly lined up so the Japanese didn't even have to change course in order to take out a whole row of 'em. The U.S. Navy owns the whole Island, and ya have to go through a security gate to get to the the Lodge. In order to get through security, we all had to have passes. To get the passes we had to go to the I.D. and Pass office. Officer Shibata of the Pearl Harbor Police Department took care of that detail for us, but advised us the passes he issued would only be good for one night... we'd have to do it all over again tomorrow. So that was the first order of business Friday morning.
Passes in hand, we went to visit BB-63, "The American Hero", the Battleship Missouri.
In Viet Nam, I had once flown over the Battleship New Jersey as she fired a broadside. That was quite an experience. But that didn't fully prepare me for the experience of walking up to this extraordinary machine. The superstructure is tall... 100 feet? 150? Taller? She is almost three football fields in length. It's an amazing sight. We all paid for the guided tour and listened to the docent tell us all about the Missouri's experience in WWII, her 30 year period in Mothballs, then her resurrection, modernization, and her experience in Gulf War I. We stood in the Operations Center where Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Halsey, and General MacArthur stood while waiting for the ceremony to begin where the Japanese signed the documents to unconditionally surrender on September 2, 1945.
At the end of the tour we went below deck to have lunch in the mess area. It was neat eating where so many men have eaten while the Missouri was underway, protecting us.
We then drove around to the other side of the Harbor to the Arizona Memorial. We visited the museum there, looking at related documents and photographs, until the theater opened, where we watched a 20 or so minute film about the start of WWII and the Arizona's sinking.
I was moved to tears.
After the film, we boarded a ferry and made our way back across the Harbor toward Ford Island and the resting place of the Arizona... a sobering experience, knowing the remains of the ship is the tomb for the almost 1000 sailors who died when she sank.
So Friday was a big day.
We enjoyed seeing Big Mo, and were humbled by the thought of the men on the Arizona.
This day alone made the trip worthwhile.
More to come. Wish you were here.
2 comments:
You definitely should have been a writer. As I set here at my computer reading your comments and wishing I was there, You have almost given me a feeling of beeing there with you all. You also brought tears to my eyes with the discription and memories you brought back. My dad was in the Army during that time. He didn't see my older brother until Floyd was 2 years old, 1945. I remember Dad telling many stories of his service and he was a very proud serviceman.
Mrs. Hawkeye here..
Pear Harbor, so humbling, so beautiful, a sacred place for those lost. The Mighty Missouri the surrender of Japan, the completion and the beginning all at this beautiful place, "Pearl Harbor". I agree, the best place to visit in the Hawaiian Islands is Pearl Harbor.
When we visited Pearl Harbor about 90% of the people touring that day seemed to be Japanese. This felt very strange.
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