The last time we went to Hawaii when Elora was 2, we went to Pearl Harbor. She actually remembered it and asked if we could go again. Pearl Harbor is obviously worth going to, but the only problem is it’s completely mobbed with tourists. Why? Probably because it’s free… Here the kids are playing next to the submarine launched nuclear ICBMs. Nearby they also had a nuclear torpedo on display. Never heard of those. Apparently, the way they were supposed to be used was not aimed at a target, but aimed a few miles passed the target and then the submarine would turn tail and run as soon as it fired because there was a strong possibility it would be destroyed in the process if it stayed around.
On a side note, you gotta love the messaging here. “Ya, this is Pearl Harbor, but as a result of what the Japanese did to us here, we made the world’s most powerful weapons, so don’t mess with Texas.” (ya, not sure why I thought of Texas there…)
It’s amazing to see the scale of the anchor. We talked with the kids before hand about being very reverent and respectful at Pearl Harbor. They did a pretty good job. Even Marion didn’t have any crazy outbursts, which is surprising for her.
Before heading out to the Arizona Memorial you are shown a film about the lead-up to Pearl Harbor, and the actual attack. At the end of the film, there was a line spoken by the narrator who said something to the effect that we must always remember the loss at Pearl. Oliver turned to me in a sweet, reverent voice and said, “I’ll always remember.” What a sweetie.
Here are the names of the 1000+ entombed inside the USS Arizona. If you haven’t been or read about it, you should go search online and do so. What’s amazing is that almost all of the ships that were sunk that day were pulled out of the water and repaired. The Arizona (and USS Utah, located on the other side of the island) weren’t because the damage was so great. The Arizona’s magazine was struck by a bomb and it completely blew off the front of the ship. The shockwave was so great it mangled the steel on the structure. Over 1000 men died in a few moments. Pretty terrifying.
Oliver was really intrigued by this map of the ship. He kept coming back to look at it. I think he liked it in part because he loves building legos and it looks like instructions. This made me think a Lego battleship would be pretty cool for him to build, but when I looked around I found that Lego doesn’t believe in making military Legos… but Star Wars Legos, weird Ninja fighting Legos, Pirates or Knights with axes are apparently ok. Strange.
As the boat was pulling away, I told Oliver to pose for a picture. Here he is in his fighting Ninja Turtle pose (yes, he has Ninja Turtle Legos too).
A nice shot of the Memorial. Lucky for us, my parents braved the lines and got tickets so all we had to do was show up 45minutes before our time slot. Most other people wait hours.
Afterwards, the kids had fun exploring around the museum.
Oliver and Marion really liked playing with this exhibit. It was a radar type game where the kids had to pick different sectors to scan for the approaching Japanese carrier group. I think they just liked spinning the wheel and pushing the buttons.
It’s hard to leave a place like Pearl Harbor and not have a pretty somber feeling. The kids didn’t want to go and would have stayed for hours. But it was nearing the end of the day and we had an hour-plus drive in traffic a head of us. Fun!
