This is a continuation of my Hawaiian Odyssey series, and covers my visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.
Here is my advice if you ever visit the USS Arizona Memorial: go twice. I made the mistake of only going once when I was there. The reason you need to go twice is that there is too much there to see in one trip. Another piece of advice, go early. Only so many people get to go to the Arizona each day and it is first come, first serve. As you see, a line does form.
I don’t hold anything against the National Park Service, they do the best they can to in letting thousands of people visit a tiny area.
The line goes into a small museum surrounding a peaceful fountain.
In the museum there are numerous items, such as maps,
and models of the Arizona as it was, and as it is now.
There are also a few items from the Arizona, such as one of its anchors, and a bell.
One of things I found most interesting was the display of the only Japanese torpedo recovered from Pearl Harbor.
In addition to all those trinkets, there are also a few truly priceless treasures.
After you go through the museum, you watch a short film, and then you get in a launch that takes you out to the memorial. Along the way, you do get some nice photo shots. Here you can see the beginning of the war (as far as the United States is concerned) and the end. I didn’t get a chance to visit the USS Missouri, but that is on my list for the next time I’m there.
Now, the reason I said you should go to the memorial twice: digital cameras. Before, when people only had film cameras, they were careful of the pictures they took. But now people take 200 or 300 pictures home to find only five or six are good. So once you arrive at the memorial, you almost go nuts trying to take all the photos you can, in the naïve believe that you only need to take photos of a place to experience it. So you go around taking photos of the names of those who never left, and the crowd, and the flag, and the oil in the water, and everything else. By the time you realize that you’re not there to take photos, it’s time for the next group.
So that’s why I say you should go twice: once for the photos, and the second time to actually be there.
I’ll end this with what I believe to be the best photo I took while at Pearl Harbor.
