Sunday morning we got up early to do some island hopping. First stop, the airport. I loved this sign.

We caught an early flight to Oahu, where our trusty tour guide Ed picked us up and took us to Pearl Harbor. Ed wanted us all to be like him, so we all donned name tags that said “Ed”. You can imagine how many Ed jokes there were all…day…long…

First stop on the tour was at the USS Missouri – the Mighty Mo. This battleship was HUGE, based on the Iowa Class battleship design from the early 1900s. It was commissioned to the US Navy after the strike on Pearl Harbor, but was similar to many of the ships that were sunk on battleship row on December 7, 1941. While the Mighty Mo was not docked at Pearl Harbor that day, it sits bow to bow to the USS Arizona, which was the first ship struck by the Japanese bombs. The USS Arizona remains just under the surface of the water, a tomb of soldiers that made the biggest sacrifice for our country. A memorial has been constructed on top of the Arizona – the white structure in the photos below. World War II started in that spot, and ended on the deck of the USS Missouri, which was docked off the coast of Japan when leaders of several countries signed the documents ending the war. I am not a history buff, so I will save the fact finding to the Wikipedia experts. What I can talk about is what I observed, thought, and felt as the day went on.

We spent just under 2 hours exploring the Missouri, and could have spent twice that amount of time. Did I mention that this ship is HUGE? Jay was totally into this part of the tour, and he read pretty much every sign. I was drawn to thinking about the lifestyle of the soldiers that called the ship home. The beds…not exactly 5-star residences. The showers and toilets were tiny, and tucked into any place they could fit one. I imagine the Mess Hall full of (mostly) boys grabbing a bite to eat before going back to polishing chrome, washing the deck, or monitoring the ships’ engines. I am definitely not cut out to be in the Navy. Much respect to all who have worn the Navy uniform.

If you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot…

The next stop was the Pacific Aviation Museum. The first building didn’t do much for me, but we went ahead and grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to check out a hangar that was full of awesome airplanes. I loved the airplane and helicopter with the jaws painted on the nose.

Up to this point, it hasn’t really sunk in where I was. I mean, I knew that I was at Pearl Harbor, I knew it was where WWII started, but I was kind of just going through the motions of being a tourist. Reading the signs, taking pictures. It was this sign, however, where I finally felt the full meaning of where I was at.

If you can’t read the sign, it directs you to look at the windows, where several pieces of glass still have bullet holes from the attacks in 1941. A.Maz.Ing. I cannot imagine the fear, adrenaline, sounds, sights, panic that all who were there that day experienced. Wow.

Here are some other photos of the aviation museum.

So now that I was in the right mindset, the next part of the tour was to watch a film containing actual footage from that day. Gosh. Not an easy thing to watch. A couple Navy sailors were our captains to take us on a boat ride out towards the USS Arizona memorial. Unfortunately due to structural issues, the memorial was not open, but we were able to ride the boat up to it. Several of the mooring docks for the other battleships that were struck on that fateful morning still retain the names of the ships. All but three of the battleships were struck were able to be repaired and continued to fight in the war. One fact that really struck me was that there is still oil seeping out of the ship. It is not enough to be harmful to the environment. They refer to it as the black tears of the soldiers that perished inside the ship. Completely humbled.

The last part of our tour was to tour the USS Bowfin. This submarine is referred to as the Pearl Harbor Avenger. She struck down 16 enemy ships during WWII – more than any other submarine. So I mentioned earlier how I was fascinated by life on the USS Missouri. I cannot even begin to imagine life on a submarine. Talk about small, cramped spaces. Hot, stinky. Can you tell from the pictures where the beds are located? Torpedoes. How does one get a good nights’ sleep with torpedoes inches from their heads? Incredible. The submarine was powered by 4 ginormous V16 Diesel engines. Can you imagine how loud that was? I liked this part of our day the best. I just wish I could have looked through the periscope! Submarine engineers are genius.

We met some fun Canadians on the tour, who were also catching the evening flight back to Maui. We had some drinks with them at the airport bar and got some great travel tips. They have been to Maui several times so they knew all the good things to check out. We got back to the hotel around 8:00 PM, definitely a super long day. But so worth it. If anyone is making the trip to Hawaii, I highly recommend fitting in a trip to Pearl Harbor.