Visiting Center
It was very nice to have the visitor center staff approach our family even before we walked through the door and gave us some friendly advice of what we can do as a family of four. I was very impressed at the size of the first part of the visiting center and that didn't even include the USS Missouri tour or the Pacific Aviation Museum. Most visitors were using the hands-free listening devices at the hundreds of stations around the center. We didn't use them because it would have made it a bit more challenging with two kids.
Even at the very beginning there was a very solemn atmosphere in the whole place and it was nice to see that every one was very respectful. In fact, Lesya and I felt out of place with the kids when they were running around and we had to scold them.
We also skipped the individual memorials. They are free, but time stamped and you have to report to a specific location in order to take the boat to those places.
USS Arizona Model
Japanese Aircraft Carrier Model
Battleship Killer: Torpedo
USS Arizona Memorial Model
Display of all of the serviceman/women who were killed
USS Arizona Anchor (recovered)
Torpedo Display
USS Bowfin Submarine
We didn't get a chance to tour the submarine because there was an age limit for the kids, so we skipped it all together. But it was displayed outside so we were able to take some photos.
USS Missouri
From the visitor center we took a shuttle bus to Ford Island, which is an active military base, but only a 10 minute drive. As usual Lesya and I appreciated the tour more than the kids but they also had there moments of excitement when they could touch different things and pretend.
Formal surrender of Japan took place on this spot
Pacific Aviation Museum
At the beginning of our aviation tour, there was a small restaurant looked in the first hanger, so we decided to get lunch and enjoy the aviation decorations that were on display. After that we stopped by the museum store and everyone got a little souvenir. Lesya and I purchase the Pearl Harbor movie, which we later watched in our hotel room. Interestingly enough portions of the movie were actually filmed in the hanger and old airstrip on Ford Island. The orange and white tower was also in it, as seen in a photo below.
By this point we were actually in a bit of a rush to get moving along, since it was almost nap time for the kids. I didn't get a chance to read all about the aircraft on display but nevertheless, the set up of each display was really nice.
Bullets in the stained glass of hanger 2 from the attack
The next two photos show a little of the recovered aircraft and restoration process. It was really neat to see the awesome job a small team of people do in order to bring the aircraft back to original appearance.
Adrian loved his new book to read from the gift shop
In summary the Pearl Harbor tour was amazing. It was really neat to pay a small tribute to the 3,000 men, women, and children that gave up their lives on December 7, 1941. I was an honor to speak to a couple elderly veterans that were also there as tour staff. It was worth all of the time and money. It would be fun to maybe go back sometime in the future and go through it in more detail.
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