Honolulu & Pearl Harbor

"Aloha," said our tour guide as we set out for Pearl Harbor from Honolulu (which means Sheltered Harbor in Hawaiian). Although Hawaii was not a state until 1951, it had been a U.S. territory since 1893, when the American forces overthrew the Queen Ruler and the Monarchy of the Iolani was abolished. We needed a naval base and Oahu seemed like the best place in the Pacific.

Honolulu is a melting pot of Polynesian, Chinese, Japanese, European and Native Hawaiians. The locals still speak mostly Hawaiian.

Today we opted for a morning tour to Pearl Harbor. As we all know the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941 which caused the U.S. to enter World War II. The attack devastated our Pacific fleet crippling or sinking 18 of our war ships (15 of these were repaired and reentered the War within a year). However 2,043 Americans were killed and 1,178 wounded, with many still entombed on the Battleship Arizona and Nevada. The visit begins with a film of the attack (which is only shown in Pearl Harbor) followed by a 7 minute cruise across the Harbor to the Arizona memorial. The Memorial stands atop the USS Arizona allowing you to look down and see the ship. As my picture shows, oil still seeps out on a daily basis. As well, the 1,100 Sailors still entombed in the ship will remain there as a permanent grave site.

This is a very solemn and sad place—everyone seems to gain respect as the visit progresses. You can almost feel the Anger and Fear of that December day when the U.S. lost it's Pacific fleet and the Japanese were running rampant across the Pacific Islands. It puts our present problems into perspective.

After leaving Pearl Harbor our tour guide showed us the windward side of Oahu before leading us to the Punch Bowl Military Gravesite. This is similar to Arlington Cemetery and is where the sailors and soldiers remains of the Pacific campaign were collected and buried after the war.

We exited the tour at Waikiki Beach for lunch and some beach time. It's a bit like Miami with Japanese--beautiful scenery, ocean and beaches. You can buy an Armani Watch or a $3 T shirt. I opted for the T shirt.

A Hawaiian barbecue on the ship celebrated our departure of the harbor for Vanuatu in the South Pacific 6 days from now. We'll have another Post then. By the way you can click on the pictures and they will expand to full size.