On Thursday 26/3, I did something more serious: I visited Pearl Harbor (located 40 minutes by car, West of Honolulu). It’s a must to see when you are in Hawaii. Here’s a little historical reminder concerning Pearl Harbor: on December 7, 1941, about 350 Japanese airplanes attacked the US military base of Pearl Harbor, home of the US Pacific fleet. This is known in history books as the “Day of Infamy”: it was a surprise attack, and many US battleships were severely damaged, some were even completely destroyed (as the USS Arizona). More than 2000 US soldiers were killed in the attack (1177 just for the USS Arizona alone!), most of them being trapped in the sinking ships. This marks the beginning of WWII for the USA.
I had booked a shuttle at 6.45 AM (and you all know I’m not a morning person…) so I was there 30 minutes before the opening of the memorial (at 8AM). There are many visitors and the number of tickets is limited (4500/day), so you have to arrive early. Even though I was there early IMO, many people were already there before me, and I had to wait an hour before the tour (my ticket was valid for the 8.45 AM session). The visit is free: you see a movie about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and then you take a boat to the memorial. The USS Arizona still lies in the Pearl Harbor bay, where it sank 67 years ago. The memorial is built like a bridge on top of it. You can still see oil leaking from the wreckage. And some rusty parts of the battleship still emerge from the water. The 1177 bodies were not recovered, so you basically walk over a cemetery when you are in the memorial. The sad part of the story is that all these soldiers were only 19 years old on average… Many people bring flower lei’s at the memorial.
After that, I took a guided tour of the USS Missouri and visited of the USS Bowfin submarine (there’s really no room inside a submarine! Clearly not a dream place for me…).
The USS Missouri served during the WWII famous battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I walked on the deck where Gen. McArthur accepted the Japanese surrender marking the end of WWII. You can see a copy of the official “Surrender instrument” document signed by the Japanese during their surrender. Other nations signed the document, like the USA, China, Russia, France and Canada. The guy from Canada was so nervous and completely messed up by signing on the wrong line (i.e. he did sign on the line of France) of the document… So they had to manually readjust the text. The USS Missouri was decommissioned then re-commissioned, and served during the operation “Desert storm” in 1991 in Iraq. A very long career… One characteristic of this ship is its deck: entirely made of teak wood. It would cost 5 millions USD to replace this deck
It was special to see in one day two battleships symbolizing the beginning (USS Arizona) and the end (USS Missouri) of WWII.
The USS Missouri served during the WWII famous battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I walked on the deck where Gen. McArthur accepted the Japanese surrender marking the end of WWII. You can see a copy of the official “Surrender instrument” document signed by the Japanese during their surrender. Other nations signed the document, like the USA, China, Russia, France and Canada. The guy from Canada was so nervous and completely messed up by signing on the wrong line (i.e. he did sign on the line of France) of the document… So they had to manually readjust the text. The USS Missouri was decommissioned then re-commissioned, and served during the operation “Desert storm” in 1991 in Iraq. A very long career… One characteristic of this ship is its deck: entirely made of teak wood. It would cost 5 millions USD to replace this deck
It was special to see in one day two battleships symbolizing the beginning (USS Arizona) and the end (USS Missouri) of WWII.
