The Arizona and Other Hawaiian WW II Memorials

Valor in the Pacific

Valor in the Pacific is the name given to the collection of World War II museums and memorials on Oahu, the most famous of which is the Battleship Arizona Memorial.  The collection of sites and exhibits is so comprehensive and vast that it took me two separate trips to see everything I wanted to. 

Taking in the Arizona Memorial constructed over the remains of the battleship Arizona.

Valor in the Pacific is located in pearl Harbor a few minutes west of Honolulu.  The main complex is on the Oahu mainland within the harbor, with the reminder on Ford Island across the channel.  Ford Island is an active military base and civilians cannot access the island without an escort.  Due to this restriction, the first stop for most visitors to Valor in the Pacific is to the main complex on the mainland.  

My boyfriend David tests one of the exhibits in the museum section of Valor in the Pacific.

No backpacks or other bags (including purses) are allowed into the main complex, and getting through a brief security screening is the first step to exploring the complex.  After the screening, visitors can wander around the various indoor museum sections covering the history of the Pearl Harbor attack or they can walk around outside exhibits to see remnants of WW II ships.  Probably the most interesting exhibit piece I saw was a Japanese kamikaze torpedo.  Equipped with explosives these torpedoes which resemble a miniature submarine would be guided by a single person directly into a ship where it would explode, killing the pilot inside and damaging the ship.  The kamikaze torpedo was saw was never used of course, as it was intact.

The sunken battleship Arizona as viewed from the memorial platform.

We spent about ninety minutes exploring the exhibits since that was how long we had to wait for our tour to the Arizona Memorial.  The Battleship Arizona was docked at Ford Island when it sank, and where it remains to day only tens of feet from the shore there.  A white platform which visitors can walk on to the view the sunken vessel was built over the remains of the Arizona.  To access the platform visitors must pick up tickets for a ferry to the memorial inside the main complex or order them online at the national parks website ahead of time for a small fee.  The online tickets were sold out months in advance when we went.  So we decided to just get them at the main complex and wait it out.  

An oil slick on the surface above Arizona.  Oil is expected to leak from the sunken ship for years to come.

Visiting the Arizona Memorial was a very weird experience.  It felt like when there is a lag in the conversation between myself and some one I just met.  Neither of us can think of anything to say, and the silence is deafening.  It's the same style of awkward I felt at the memorial.  Visitors were generally very respectful and quiet (except for the baby getting changed in a corner).  I couldn't decide whether I should spend my time looking at the sunken ship still leaking oil or reading the exhibits.  I wound up going back and forth between the two until the ferry returned to pick us up.  

The capsized battleship Utah.

I learned a lot about the Arizona in school, one thing I did not learn until I visited the memorial was that sailors who escaped the ship when it sunk can have their ashes interred inside the ship by SCUBA divers (the only time diving is allowed in the memorial).  Above all else I learned at Valor in the Pacific, this bugged me the most.  Why would anyone chose their eternal resting place to be in a place where one of the most horrific and terrifying events in their life took place? Wouldn't they prefer to have their ashes spread somewhere that reminds them of their family or a place where they found comfort?  I just don't get it.  I probably never will.

The subdued and vacant Utah memorial.

While the Arizona receives most of the press and glory, its not the only battleship from the Pearl Harbor attack still sunken in the harbor.  The battleship Utah similarly rests mostly below the water on the other side of Ford Island.  Visitors can walk out on a small pier that juts out from Ford Island to view the remains.  Also unlike the Arizona memorial, the Utah memorial is almost always empty.  The only way to visit the Utah memorial is to go with someone who has an active military I.D.  I am fortunate that my brother fulfills this requirement, and took me to see the sunken vessel at my request.

The Battleship Oklahoma memorial.  The sunken ship was salvaged years ago, and the memorial is located near the battleship Missouri museum.  

There are memorials on Ford Island that civilians can visit by arranging a tour through the national park service.  We drove ourselves, a perk of visiting with active military.  The third sunken ship memorialized on the skirts of the island is the Oklahoma.  Suffering the same fate as the Arizona and Utah, it was salvaged after sinking, and a memorial of white stilts commemorates the sailors not far from the sunken Arizona.  

Onboard the battleship Missouri memorial where the peace treaty with Japan in WW II.

The last stop on our Valor in the Pacific tour was not so much a memorial as a museum.  The USS Missouri was a battleship commissioned in the second world war.  In fact it was the battleship on which the peace treaty was signed with Japan.  Now the Missouri is docked adjacent to the Oklahoma and Arizona memorials.  The ship is a museum that visitors can freely explore with an entrance fee in the range of $20-$30.  

The Arizona memorial as viewed from the Missouri museum.

We toured the Missouri on a drizzly day which kept the crowds away and the battleship pretty much deserted.  We climbed up to the officers' quarters in the bridge and down into the bowels below deck before ending on the perfectly maintained wooden decks where a plaque inset in the wood marked the place where US solidified its peace with Japan.  After all the emotionally heavy settings of the memorials and museums about the Pearl Harbor attack, it was nice to see something symbolizing peace and hope.  

Exiting the Missouri after an enjoyable self tour.