Vacations Blog

USS Arizona Memorial

Pearl Harbor is the #1 most popular tourist attraction on the island of Oahu, but that is not why I visited.  I’m not a history buff, or interested in war trivia, or necessarily drawn to hallowed ground, so that’s not why I went either.  I went because I know and love many men and women who have served in the Armed Forces.  I have dated them, sprung from their loins, even considered becoming one myself.  (That’s for a different website.)  And so when I had some time in my schedule on Oahu, I looked into visiting this national monument.

When I asked locals what I should know about going to visit Pearl Harbor, I was told without variation that I should “go early, to avoid the lines.”  The monument’s website is very clear about the process for your visit – pick up a timed ticket, wait in line, no bags or backpacks or even diaper bags allowed.  I succeeded in packing light, but not at arriving early.  I made it out to the visitor’s center at about 11:00 AM on a Friday in September.  There was no line.  I got a ticket for the tour starting in five minutes, so there was little wait.  And the center wasn’t very crowded, so the whole experience was…pleasant.

It is odd to say that this visit was pleasant because essentially you are visiting an underwater tomb.

Ferry to the memorial

Your visit to the main attraction of Pearl Harbor, the memorial above the sunken U.S.S. Arizona, begins with a 45-minute documentary about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 narrated by Stockard Channing.  It is quietly moving, presenting the event moment by moment, from several different points of view.  Once the film is finished, you are led out to the boarding area for the ferry that takes you out to the memorial itself.  There you are allowed to walk around, take pictures, stare into the depths of the water, watch the oil bubble up from below, for about 20 minutes before re-boarding the ferry back to the visitor’s center.

My walkabout above the sunken ship was a sobering 20 minutes.  I thought about the terror those men must have felt in their final moments.  I thought about their families and friends and brothers in arms who lost them and felt those losses for the rest of their lives.  I thought about how much time has passed since the ship sank, and how life goes on, and generations of people were never created because those men died under these waters.  (See a real-time slideshow of my visit here at Whrrl.)

Just one small part of the sunken ship

Later, at the gift shop, I called my father.  He had not served in the Armed Forces, but my grandfather had, and that was as close as I could get without starting to cry.  And darn it, I was on vacation.