Arizona Remembrance

Today was our day to visit Pearl Harbor. We had been told that a tour might rush us and we would want to take our time. Yes, it required keeping to a schedule, but the amount of information given made it well worth it. "Cousin Paul" was a native born Hawaiian grandfather of 87.5% blood, very knowledgable and very friendly. We started with a city tour. If Mom and I had been on our own, we would have gone by with nery an idea what we were seeing. Cousin Paul bubbled with information and could even identify the trees: Chinese Banyan, Indian Banyan, Monkey Pod, and Pandanus being the most interest.

This view of Waikiki is in fact from our hotel, not the bus.

We visited the Punchbowl, a WWII military cemetery in the crater of a volcano. We didn't leave the bus, so you'll find much better pictures on the Internet, by I got this one of Diamond Head on the way down.

The National Park Service needs to rethink their accessibility. We brought Mom's walker on the tour. Cousin Paul kindly saved us seats at the front of the bus. But rules since 9/11 don't allow him to drop people off at the entrance to the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. We had several hundred yards to walk. Inconventient, but I can understand the emotional target the memorial would make. Mom's walker has a seat where she could have stopped to rest if needed, but she's a trooper and made it just fine. 

She did sit down in the line for the film. They had a handicapped section at the back where she didn't have to go down steps. The section was almost full when we got there, but I sat on the walker, and we fit. However, the exit ramp left from the back door of the theater, meaning we were the last people in line for the boat. No one at the boat paid any attention to the fact that she had special needs. The handicapped seats had already been taken, not all by people who needed them. We had located a seat and were headed for it when the boat took off. Mom reached for the back of a seat to steady herself and missed because the moving boat had shifted her balance, and the seat back simply was no longer in the place she reached for. She didn't fall, but it certainly wasn't the fault of the driver of the boat. On the way back we were well taken care of--first on the boat with a man with a cane. No problem finding a convenient seat.

But she didn't fall and the visit was very moving. I heard a ten-year-old from Austalia who was on our tour tell her mom, "Mommy, this makes me really sad."

After the Arizona Memorial, we visited the USS Missouri, site of the signing of the Japanese surrender, September 2, 1945--the beginning of the war to the end of the war as far as the US was concerned. Note the date. This morning was a special ceremony honoring the 72nd anniversary.

The USS Missouri on Ford Island can be seen to the left of the Arizona Memorial.

The USS Missouri took much better care of us. At the gate, the guard offered to switch Mom's walker for a wheelchair. She could NEVER have gotten up this ramp to the ship. I was challenged to PUSH the wheelchair up. I felt like a hockey player striding around the rink while dragging another player as a strength-building exercise.

The USS Missouri was built in 1941 so wasn't present on the December 7 attack.

Sailors had much more space when the Missouri last saw service in the Persian Gulf War, but I still felt claustraphobic exploring their quarters. And I'm not claustraphobic!

 Mom explored the outer decks where the surrender was signed, and then waited in the air-conditioned ward room, where someone younger than me, helped her with the computer interactive displays. I was free to wander much of the ship, seeing quarters, offices, ward rooms. Much of it reminded me of the Arizona TV special we watched last week, where an underwater camera was sent into the Arizona, revealing officer quarters with a hat on the bed, a uniform jacket still hanging on a hanger. Only of course, in the Arizona, all was covered with silt.

The flower over ler right ear means she's free and available. So far no takers.

We arrived back at our hotel tired, but well satisfied with the day.