Pearl Harbor

 
Our day in Hawaii was spent visiting Pearl Harbor.  This is an active military facility and public access is limited.    One day is not enough time to see everything and we regretfully skipped the Arizona Memorial.  The monument is very popular, but can only handle a limited number of visitors per day.  Tickets are first come, first served, and the line starts forming around 6am.  The other areas are available to visitors any time.   
 

Battleship Row today

 

Pearl Harbor from above.

 

 

USS Bowfin

 

 
A highly decorated WWII submarine, the Bowfin has been preserved as a monument with a visitor center, museum, and a monument to all US submarines lost in the war.  Located in a park-type setting next to the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, the Bowfin is very well-maintained and looks ready to go to sea again.  It was used as a setting in the television mini-series, War and Remembrance.
 

Anyone who's ever spent time polishing brass has some idea of what it is like to keep something like this shiny.  This is only a small part of the brass on the boat.

 

http://www.bowfin.org/website/index.cfm

 
 

USS Missouri

 
After the Missouri was decommissioned for the second and last time, the Navy agreed to release the ship and she was moved to Battleship Row to become a monument.  The placement of the ship behind the USS Arizona dramatically represents the beginning and end of the war for the US.  To visit the Missouri, you buy tickets at the Bowfin Memorial Visitor Center and catch a shuttle bus there to cross the bridge to Ford Island. 

The ship looks impressive from across the harbor, but when you get close, it is truly an astounding sight.

Plaque commemorating the spot where the surrender was signed.

The deck area where the surrender ceremony was held.

 

 

Missouri-Then and Now

The Truman Line:  President and Mrs. Truman going through the chow line, September 1947.  This area is still used for food service for visitors.

 

Kamikaze attack, Okinawa, 1945:  Shown in the photo above just before impact, the plane struck the Missouri just below deck level.  The attack had little effect on the ship, but the damage is still visible to this day.

 

The formal Japanese surrender takes place on the deck of the Missouri, Sep. 2, 1945.    The cover has been added to provide visitors some shade while viewing the surrender site.

 

http://www.ussmissouri.com/

 
 

 

 
Return to Micronesia 2005 Homepage