I'll let that sit for a minute. Like I said before, we are very much knowledgeable on World War II in Europe, and in our seven years there we have seen and visited a ton of war related places.
After watching some other war movies, and documentaries, we always said we would love to visit Pearl Harbor, and adsorb all the rich history.
We finally did it -we made it to another spot on our list.
Nate's sister was gracious and sweet to offer to entertain the kids, so we could have a little date day, and actually do a little tour (let's face it, it can be challenging having kids for that - not impossible - just a little hard) - she kids adore her so much, and had no problem staying her.
It was a very unique experience - very sad to process - but so far nothing war related has turned my stomach and messed with my head as much our visit to Auschwitz in Poland.
It is rather large site, and I was very impressed with the layout, the upkeep, and all the information avaible.
We did the little self-guide tour with the audio, and it was so worth it.
We pretty much walked hand in hand, earphones on, snapping pictures, and taking it all in.
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| Japanese planes. |
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| Purple heart. |
It was a little hard to take pictures inside the museum, a ton of people around, everything was in glass cases, and honestly I was so caught up in the audio it kind of slipped my mind.
I am still baffled about how everything just worked our in the favor of the Empire of Japan, on that specific day December 7th 1941 - all the fine details of bombers that were scheduled to return from California, and once a large number of planes were detected on the radar, no one thought anything about, and boom - just like that the United States entered World War II.
It was also interesting to know that most people focus on Pearl Harbor, but it was actually an attack on the whole island of Oahu - all the military facilities where targeted - it is actually crazy that some of the buildings on base still bare the bullet holes from the attack.
Nate and I did the tour up until the point that you finish this really informative and pretty cool movie, and then you are suppose to get on a little boat to head out the USS Arizona Memorial - well of course this particular day, right as we were about to exit the theater, we were informed that the Navy has suspended the boats due to the wind - great! So if you ever make it out there, call and make sure that the boats are actually running.
Lucky for us we still had a few days left and decided to go back another day - to just do that portion.
We strolled the grounds for a little while longer - just hanging out.
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| USS Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial. |
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| USS Arizona's anchor. |
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| USS Bowfin. |
Fast forward a few days....
We went back one afternoon, but since only had the USS Arizona memorial left we decided to take the kids for this section, since it didn't require them to sit still and listen to someone talk.
They were excited to go with us.
Once we got there, we had time to kill before our ticket time, so we decided to g ahead and do a little tour of the USS Bowfin submarine - Ian loves submarine, and it was a huge hit.
I personally will survive living on a submarine - I need fresh air, sunshine, and space. It was super awesome to see it though.
Ian loved it so much, and all he kept asking was "when are we going to move, and go under water."
It was finally our turned to head out to the USS Arizona.
The little boat ride was loved by all.
This was kind of sad, watching people - especially those going out there to honor their friends and loved ones who died on 7 December 1941.
The inside was really pretty, light, and silent.
You basically walk over the ship, and when you look out in down into the water, you can actually see it.
Something else crazy? Every few minutes you can actually see the oil still squirting out from this massive ship. It has been almost 75 years!!
It was definitely an unique experience to share with Nate and the kids. I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Oahu - and the memorial is free!
How one day can shape the history of the world!
Happy Tuesday!
Stay tuned for the rest of our Hawaiian adventures.
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