Hawaiian holiday, Post 4: Remembrance Day

Wednesday, November 11th, was Remembrance Day, and by chance this was the day we had planned to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour. The memorial is free, and it is Oahu's most visited attraction.

The USS Arizona was one of the US Navy battleships anchored at Pearl Harbour when the Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the United States on the Sunday morning of December 7th, 1941. The attack involved two aerial waves totalling 353 aircraft, launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers. Four US Navy battleships, including the Arizona, were sunk (although two were later raised and returned to service), four more were damaged, seven other Navy ships were damaged or sunk, 188 aircraft were destroyed, 2402 people were killed, and 1282 were injured. The US had been unprepared for the attack and Japanese losses were minimal in comparison. As a result of the attack on Pearl Harbour, the USA immediately declared war on Japan and became militarily involved in World War II.

The USS Arizona still rests at the bottom of Pearl Harbour. Of the 1400 crewmen on board on the day of the attack, 1177 died, and 1102 of them remain where they fell. Crewmen who were assigned to the Arizona at any time during its service history are permitted to have their ashes scattered in the waters above the memorial, and those who were actually aboard the Arizona on December 7, 1941, and survived the attack, are permitted to have their ashes entombed within the remains of the ship.

The USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated in 1962, is a long white structure that spans the hull of the Arizona without touching it. From Wikipedia: "The 184-foot (56m) long structure has two peaks at each end connected by a sag in the centre of the structure. It represents the height of American pride before the war, the sudden depression of a nation after the attack and the rise of American power to new heights after the war. Critics initially called the design a "squashed milk carton"."

The photo of our tickets below shows the memorial:

On our way into the visitor centre, we noticed that the cars parked in the spaces reserved for Pearl Harbour survivors (some of them volunteer there) had special Pearl Harbour Survivor numberplates. In addition to the Arizona memorial, the Pearl Harbour site is also home to the USS Bowfin (a World War II submarine in the second photo below), and usually the USS Missouri, a battleship that was absent during our visit due to being in drydock. In the third photo below, you may be able to see the distant Arizona memorial behind the head of the middle person...

A visit to the USS Arizona Memorial includes a documentary video about 20 minutes long, and then a Navy boat ride from the visitor centre out to the memorial. We spent about 20 or 30 minutes inside the memorial. On the boat, three young Navy personnel had sat in front of us, and when we were inside the memorial I saw an American tourist tap one of them on the shoulder and quietly say he appreciated them.

Here are some photos of the memorial, including the marble wall on which the names of those who died aboard the Arizona are inscribed (we found a Byrd)...



















And the following photos show what can be seen of the Arizona above and below the surface. The first photo shows the remains of the ship's gun turret mount. The Arizona is also slowly leaking oil - sometimes called "the tears of the Arizona", which some survivors say will only stop when the last one of them dies. The oil can be seen in the last photo below...









And that was our visit to Pearl Harbour. It's a pretty surreal feeling to visit a site of such historical significance, and to see tourists milling around where there was once so much death and destruction. It's an especially sobering feeling to be standing above the water graves of over a thousand sailors, most of whom were probably younger than me. We have very fortunate lives indeed.

Afterwards, we went to a huge flea market at the nearby Aloha Stadium. I'd read about this thrice-weekly "swap meet" in the Lonely Planet guide as the best place for bargains. For lunch we tried some kalua pork and ti leaves with rice and corn - quite nice! We also bought quite a few (useful) souvenirs, including beach towels, togs for me, and soaps. I only just managed to refrain from buying a ukulele!

That night we went to the Wednesday night meeting at the same home as we'd been to on Sunday. We were most surprised to sit down next to a couple we know from Vancouver, also over for a holiday at Waikiki!!

To be continued...

Click here to view more photos of our Hawaii trip.