Ford Island AKA Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is the harbor - that is it isn't land, it is water. The place you visit when you go to Pearl Harbor is

Ford Island

Since Tour 1 was canceled, we were taking tour 2 - A Day at Pearl Harbor 6:15 AM 4:45 PM for $99.00 and this included the guide and transportation as well as
• Admission to USS Bowfin Submarine ($10.00 value)
• Admission to Missouri Battleship ($20.00 value)
• Pacific Aviation Museum Admission ($25.00 value which is totally worth it)

June 18, 2010

Set the automatic wake-up call for 5:30 and it came at 5:20 and asked if I wanted another call in 10 minutes. Since the phone is NOT by the bed, I was already up, so I declined. It was obvious that it had rained last night. My grandson and I each ate a piece of pizza

Grandson- pizza for breakfast

and applied sunscreen and went down to meet the van about 6:10 for what was advertised as a 6:15 pickup.

Bike rack in front of hotel

The van was about 20 minutes late.

Stadium where pro bowl is played sometimes

Entrance to the park

Our group filing in at 7:15 - j. in a blue shirt

Walking in behind our guide in the red shirt

First we went to the Pearl Harbor Visitor's center.

Bookstore and visitor's center

Stamps in the NP Passport

We were to meet back at the Pacific Ocean (map on the sidewalk). They had already gotten our tickets for us with a time to visit.

Apparently they were all sold out of times by 10:40 today. At least we didn't have to wait in line for the tickets.

Circle of Survivors

Since our time for the shuttle to the Arizona was 9:40,

USS Bowfin

we were to visit the submarine first and then see the movie and then line up for the boat.

I did go into the submarine but it was a struggle.

Grandson on deck and going down the hatch

My feet don't pick up high enough to get across the hatch threshold. So I would put my cane on the other side of the hatch, pick one foot up and put it through, and then get my body through, stand on that first foot and then pull the other foot after me steadying myself with the cane. We took lots of photos.

Hatch on deck and Hatch looking up

Torpedo tube

Bowfin controls

Typewriter and Safe in the office

Office

Bunk and Sink

numbers are for audio tour

Galley

Galley

Sample menu

Crew mess

Brass bell

Some places on the sub (like the

Officer's Mess

I recognized from when I've been aboard with Bob long ago.

Then I rested and visited the bathroom, and hobbled over to the movie

Temporary video theater

which was in a temporary theatre - they are re-doing the visitor's center. The movie was very touching. Then I just sat and waited for the 9:40 ride and took pictures of the banded doves

Banded dove

There were a lot of these - they are not native to Hawaii. This had the advantage of that we heard the 9:20 speech before going out in the shuttle boat - our 9:40 speech was nil. They let the wheelchair and crippled people like me board first. I sat in the front on the port side.

Boat to Arizona Memorial

On the boat on the way out to the Arizona memorial

My grandson sat in front of me. It was kind of spitting rain - nothing hard, but the sun was behind a cloud.

Arizona

Nevada memorial

Steps to the entrance

Sticking out above the water

Detail

Map of Arizona memorial

We were instructed not to stop on the way in. I took some pictures, including one of a barracuda hanging around the ship which did not turn out. But the sun was behind a cloud and it was hard to see anything.

Cloudy day with rain showers

Arizona memorial

When the sun came out we could see better, including the oil slick which you can't really see if there's no sun.

oil sheen

My daughter said that her photos when my mother took her to the Arizona memorial were almost identical to the ones that we took 30 some years later.

Pearl Harbor

We were loaded back on the bus and driven to the

USS Missouri

Approaching the Missouri

Lining up

We did have our picture taken.

Missouri photo

I was told that I could go up in the elevator, but not told that I could have a wheelchair. So my grandson went on without me - I was too tired to climb around on another ship

USS MIssouri

Memorial plaque on the USS Missouri

and Bob has really only served on subs and carriers - no battleships.

Souvenir

I went into the store which had A/C and sat on the floor next to the drink cooler after I got an iced tea and a snickers bar. My iced tea top rolled under the cooler and I tried to retrieve it with my hat but didn't get it and got my hat full of dust bunnies and dirt. One of the people warned me that tea is a diuretic and I'd have to 'go'. I don't know if that was it or not, but my ankles are not swollen anymore.

The people were apparently unhappy with me sitting there so they brought me a wheelchair and took me up the elevator.

Elevator on the Missouri

But I didn't see my grandson anywhere.

Location 5 - the Fan Tail of the Missouri

So I rolled down the deck (it was not level) to the fan tail.

Flags on the Missouri Fan Tail

Then I saw him finishing his tour and he took me back down the elevator and we went to look at the memorial for the

USS Oklahoma

Oklahoma memorial

They were very adamant that we were not to take pictures on the base, but I did take some of the Missouri from outside the gate.

We got back on the bus and went to the Pacific Air museum.

Museum armband

Here we ate lunch.

Grandson's hamburger

My grandson had a burger

Pulled pork

and I had a pulled pork sandwich. We had a very nice tour of the museum

Diagram of the harbor

The deadly armada

with a tour guide who explained why the Zero was constructed as it was and the strengths and weakness.

Pacific Air Museum - Japanese plane

He also explained the types of bombs that were used.

Civilian plane

He showed us the small two seater plane - civilian which happened to be in the air at the time of the attack. They had a

Model figure of General Doolittle next to the Ruptured Duck

Route of attack

and the yellow biplane trainer which was was the trainer flown by all the military pilots at that time.

Yellow biplane trainer

After the tour, while my grandson was shopping, I took some photos of the air traffic control tower that was there in 1940.

Old air traffic control tower from 1940

Then we did a drive-through of the city (photos are taken from the bus) including the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific - aka the Punch Bowl

Punchbowl cemetery

Inscribed on one of the entrance pillars is this poem

From The Bivouac Of The Dead
by Theodore O'Hara
The muffled drums sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.

Myna bird (non-native from Asia)

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Length of the cemetery to the flag

Looking over the city

We went by the Iolani Palace

Fence around the palace

and they told us about it, but we did not have a chance to go in. It was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty and ending with Queen Liliuokalani under the Kalakaua Dynasty, founded by her brother, King David Kalakaua

Gates

Another view from the bus

Near the palace

and through the middle of the city

Reflections

Reflection of our minibus

and the tour included every house that Obama's family ever lived in or place he worked or had been in any way associated with him.

Roosevelt HS (Obama's HS)

We got back about 4:30. My grandson thought we might go swimming, but we were both tired, and so we just finished up the pizza for dinner.

Pizza

Tomorrow we board the Pride of America