Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

Here are just a few pictures we took while at Pearl Harbor, mostly on the USS Arizona Memorial.

This is an absolute must see location, and a site that I am proud to say I finally got to visit.

We arrived around 7 one morning, and there was a pretty long line formed already to get in.  We got in the line, and it moved pretty fast.  Within minutes we had tickets to go to the USS Arizona Memorial for 7:45 in hand.  This gave us time to get our tickets to tour the USS Missouri, and the USS Bowfin.  Only the Pearl Harbor tickets were free.

We made our way to a theater area where we went in to see a short film.  The film tells about the attack on Pearl Harbor.  After that, we got on a boat to take us to the USS Arizona Memorial.

In case you don't know, the USS Arizona was bombed during the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941.  1,177 members of the US Navy were lost.

The Arizona has been left at the bottom of Pearl Harbor ever since, and, in 1962, the memorial was built over it.  Now, visitors can ride out to the fallen vessel, and look directly over it. 

Survivors of the attack who served on the ship may have their ashes scattered over the ship, or they may have their urns places inside of it.

AND, visiting is a very touching experience. 

Each group has maybe 20 minutes or so to take it all in before the next boat comes in, rotating out visiting groups.