Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona
The sunken Arizona
Halfway through our week long trip, we did some island hopping. We flew from Maui to Honolulu, which is really quite a culture shock. Honolulu is a big city with a lot of people and things going on. It has a great Asian influence, as many people from Japan and China call Honolulu home. It doesn't carry the quiet, isolated island feeling that Maui possessess. Nevertheless, it is where most of the history and culture of the islands of Hawaii remain. The main island used to be the home of the royal family of Hawaii, a Polynesian King, Queen and Princess. It also is the home of the beloved Waikiki Beach where surfing was first born. On our second day at the main island, we decided to visit Pearl Harbor. It was a very humbling and sorrowful feeling to know what occurred at this very location on Dec. 7, 1941. We took a tour of the museum and then road a boat out to where the U.S.S Arizona lays on the bottom of the ocean floor. Entombed in that ship are the bodies of nearly 1,000 navy men. It is always good to be reminded of the sacrifices made for our country and that trajic day that propelled the U.S. into WW2. My grandfather, Ivan, was in the navy and spent time at Pearl Harbor on duty only a few short years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the mid- 1940's. He brought my grandmother back to visit after he finished his tour in the navy...it was one of their favorite and most beautiful places to visit. It was important for my family to get to visit and spend time at a place that meant so much to my grandparents.
The sunken Arizona
Halfway through our week long trip, we did some island hopping. We flew from Maui to Honolulu, which is really quite a culture shock. Honolulu is a big city with a lot of people and things going on. It has a great Asian influence, as many people from Japan and China call Honolulu home. It doesn't carry the quiet, isolated island feeling that Maui possessess. Nevertheless, it is where most of the history and culture of the islands of Hawaii remain. The main island used to be the home of the royal family of Hawaii, a Polynesian King, Queen and Princess. It also is the home of the beloved Waikiki Beach where surfing was first born. On our second day at the main island, we decided to visit Pearl Harbor. It was a very humbling and sorrowful feeling to know what occurred at this very location on Dec. 7, 1941. We took a tour of the museum and then road a boat out to where the U.S.S Arizona lays on the bottom of the ocean floor. Entombed in that ship are the bodies of nearly 1,000 navy men. It is always good to be reminded of the sacrifices made for our country and that trajic day that propelled the U.S. into WW2. My grandfather, Ivan, was in the navy and spent time at Pearl Harbor on duty only a few short years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the mid- 1940's. He brought my grandmother back to visit after he finished his tour in the navy...it was one of their favorite and most beautiful places to visit. It was important for my family to get to visit and spend time at a place that meant so much to my grandparents.
The memorial
One of the last remaining Pearl Harbor survivors signing war memorbilia
My dad on the Arizona Memorial
The names of over 2,000 men who died that day
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