Visiting Historical Places of Oahu

We visited some of Oahu's historical sites. We visited The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial National Park in Pearl Harbor. The line to get the tickets was long and there was a long wait, but there is a lot to see. Here we visited the U.S.S. Bowfin submarine, visited two of the museums there, viewed the dramatic film of the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941, boarded a navy boat to the Arizona memorial, and visited the U.S.S. Missouri battleship. We ended up being here all day.
We also visited the Punchbowl National Cementary of the Pacific.

We visited the Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific.
This cemetary is built on one of the volcanic craters of the island.
This picture does not show it well but it you look carefully it is the shape of a bowl, or the crater of the volcano. To learn more about this cemetary click HERE

Gordon reading the historical information by the stairs

Gordon going up the stairs of the memorial at the cemetery.
There are a lot of steps up.

All the fern trees along both sides of the stairs of the monument are shaped as a Punchbowl

Gordon enjoying the exhibit of the Pacific War here. Very educational.
They have great detailed maps that tell the history from the beginning to the end of the war.

Me at the top of the stais of the Punchbown Memorial.
There is a small chapel behind this statute use to pay tribute by visitors.
People are completely silent here.

We took an audio tour of the U.S.S. Bowfin Submarine.
Here I am after the tour with a view of the submarine behind me.

After viewing a dramatic film on the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941 we board a navy boat to the Arizona Memorial

Me at the Arizona Memorial. While everyone still has the images from the film presentation in mind, they are completely silent and in deep thought here at the memorial paying tribute to the marines that died and are buried with the ship under the water.

Information about the Arizona battleship that is still under water here under the memorial

The Arizona battleship is visible under the water.

The memorial has a small chapel with the names of the marines buried with the Arizona battleship. Everyone is paying tribute with complete silence.
I learned that this is how Americans are patriotic.

Next we visited the U.S.S. Missouri Battleship.
This was the last battleship built by the United States.
This battleship is famous for many things, but the one that stands out the most is that on this battleship the Japanese signed the formal surrender to end the Pacific War.

The tour the Missouri battleship was very educational.

Here is Gordon at the exact site where the Japanese signed the final surrender on September 2 1945. See the signing HERE

Here are the surrender documents and an actual pen that was used