{ Rewind Wednesday }. Back in March, my Auntie A and Uncle L visited and I took them to tour Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor. Salute. Honor. Remember.
Hawaii Living: Touring Pearl Harbor
Despite living here for close to 5 months by that point, it was my first experience visiting Pearl Harbor. The Hawai‘i resident in me kind of balked and pissed and moaned about having to contend with clueless tourists in the parking lot and in the tour queues. Little did I know, I was in for one of the most humbling, educational and emotional trips of my new Hawaii Life.
Auntie A & Uncle L at Pearl Harbor overlooking the harbor to Ford Island, a Military Housing neighborhood.
Aloha, little buddy! A Hawaiian lizard matches the local foliage at Pearl Harbor.
A quote from Eleanor Roosevelt asking for the grace and humility to remember that people had given their lives for hers.
Eleanor Roosevelt kept this prayer written on a simple note card in her wallet throughout the duration of World War II. The prayer is inscribed into a slab of stone in a small area of the walkway directly facing Ford Island and the place where many warships and naval boats sunk and hundreds of military men died in the attack.
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me to remember somehow out there
A man died for me today
As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?
Eleanor was humble and quite wise.
Metal sculpture of Oahu. This is Kaneohe Bay on the east side (Windward side) of O‘ahu, with the little ridge at the far right being the little bit of the “country” where we used to live (Kualoa district).
Koko Head and Koko Marina that make up Hawai‘i Kai, our new ‘hood.
Pictures of our old and new neighborhoods. That they’re only 20 miles from each other… and that they differ so greatly in culture, geography, flora, fauna and climate, is completely astounding and one of the strange and wonderfully unique things about living in this magical place.
The USS Bowfin submarine museum at Pearl Harbor.
Inside the control room of a WWII submarine.
Submarine Controls
Control, control, control.
Submarine spark plugs??
Aircraft carrier deck guns.
Bulls Eye.
All patriotic in Red, White and Blue, and about to blast someone into smithereens.
A shiny, phallus… torpedo.
All the weaponry around awakened the silly 12 year old boy living deep within my soul (you know, the one that still likes videogames, comics, Sci-Fi and weapons). After gunning an imaginary bogey from the skies and staring (and snickering) at the large phallus of a shiny sub torpedo… I sobered up to the somber truth that these were and are weapons of destruction and have inflicted incalculable harm, ripping lives, families and countries apart.
War is truly an ugly, ugly, terrifying thing.
Tree of life monument to the amazing honor and sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives in the attack of Pearl Harbor.
The Tree of Life memorial sculpture at the World War II Valor in the Pacific Memorial at Pearl Harbor by artist Alfred Preis symbolizing eternal renewal. It is meant for us to remember the sacrifice of the men (and their families) who were casualties of the brutality of war, but also to honor and understand the war and to extend that understanding and peace to the Japanese. It is a reminder to honor the dead, remember the war and sacrifice and to understand and grow together.
Memorial plaque at the entrance to the memorial shrine of the USS Arizona.
A part of the USS Arizona, the gun turret.
View of the gorgeous Ko‘olau range and the ridge and valley communities near Honolulu as seen from the Arizona Memorial shrine.
The rainbow halo of the oil still leaking from the wreckage of the USS Arizona warship.
1,035 names of the men aboard the USS Arizona who gave their lives in the attack of Pearl Harbor.
In memoriam. Never forget.
The memorial shrine.
If you want to learn more about Pearl Harbor or want to plan your visit there, you can get more information from their official website: Pearl Harbor Historic Sites.
Tickets to most of the memorials at Pearl Harbor are free and so is parking, but in order to ensure a parking space, it’s best to arrive when they open at 7AM. You can also reserve Pearl Harbor tickets online with a minimal booking fee through the National Parks Services Pearl Harbor website.
If you’re planning on touring the USS Arizona and walking around the park, I’d say reserve about 2-4 hours of your day. The tour of the Arizona includes a line, a 25 minute documentary, a ferry ride and a 20 minute tour of the memorial shrine. All in all it’s about 90 minutes not including lining up and round trip ferry ride.
Tree of Life monument motif in memoriam of the men of the USS Arizona.
Touring Pearl Harbor is one of the most educational experiences you can have. It’s a testament to the fortitude, resilience and tenacity of the human spirit, and its ability to rise above adversity and fight. But the memorial also literally a grave site and a place for somber contemplation, remembrance, and reverent honor, a place to learn and understand the deep meaning of war and its consequences.
I wish you love, prosperity, beauty and happiness.
Me ke aloha ~ With love, Xx
Mae
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