Hawaii (3) — Pearl Harbor
You’ll need to visit Pearl Habor for its beautiful and tranquil scenery and for its unforgettable stories.
Pearl Habor is geographically important in the world war. Attacking Pearl Harbor is not random or being crazy. Japan strategically planned the attack in attempt to removing its threat at the Pacific. When I was there, I felt many Americans visited Pearl Habor with tears. The monument carved thousands of young soldier’s names — they died at their 18 or 19, and they are a similar generation of our grandparents. Besides sadness, there is also herosim if you think about later how Americans got back and destroyed Japanese aircraft carriers who attacked the Pearl Habor, how Japanese admitted that attacking Pearl Habor is a war crime, how American B-29 bomber destroyed Hiroshima, then how US dump dollars to help rebuild Japan after the war…
Some tourism tips to share: the most important parts of “Pearl Habor Historical Cite” are the memorial park and USS Arizona (there are also a submarine and an avionic museum if you plan to spend more time here). The park is free, but you are not allowed to bring in big bags. There are some break-ins reported at the parking lot, so leave your important belongings at the hotel. The parking lot is small so be prepared to wait for parking. To visit USS Arizona Memorial, you will need to get here early in the morning to get tickets (the tickets are free but limited to the certain number of admissions per day).
USS Arizona is one of the 8 USS battleships sunk during the Pearl Habor attack. US started building their battleships in 1880s and there are 48 battleships named after the state. Many have been destroyed during the wars. USS Iowa, one of the two battleships still remained today if I remembered correctly, is open for tours in CA after she served in WWII and Korean war. The residents of Iowa can board it for free.
History is the worst class in my school, I mostly relearned history through my adult travels. Hopefully today I did a fair job of reporting my impressive experience at the Pearl Habor 🙂 A few days coming back from the Pearl Habor, then I heard this story: at the boarding gate, one young soldier, in his military uniform, arrived late. All the passengers stepped back, let him walk to the ticket booth and board first. One of the passengers said “I am the first class, and I want to give my seat to this young soldier to thank him for his service”. After boarding, all the passengers sat around the soldier said “thank you for your service to our country”