Last September the mister and I had the opportunity to visit the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor with our O’ahu based family. This year we were invited by our Navy son-in-law to see the memorial via the Remembrance Barge Tour. 
The public version of the tour is nice with a new visitor center, excellent and informative video and of course the touching memorial. However, I felt that the time allotted at the memorial was too short and it was so crowded that I didn’t have the moment of quiet reflection that this place truly deserves.
With the Navy hosted tour (this is not open or available to the public, you must be invited by a service member) we began the tour with a video and review of the small Pacific Fleet boathouse museum that they have on site. Next we boarded the barge and sailed out of the East Loch past the USS Utah.
This ship was first put into service in 1911 and was sunk on December 7th, 1941. An attempt to right the ship after the attack was unsuccessful and she was left to lie. In 1972 a small memorial was built adjacent to her resting place off of Ford Island. We then sailed around Hospital Point where the original base hospital was located but is now the site of officer housing.
We approached the USS Missouri moored to our left or port side of the barge. The nickname of Mighty Mo is very fitting. She faces the Arizona Memorial and is in a respectful and protective stance over the USS Arizona.
As we approached the Arizona landing platform, I was able to take a photo of this lovely lady. To the right is the final resting place of the USS Arizona.
I learned a lot about how the concept for this memorial began, the long path of private fund raising and then the fruition of a dream honoring those who lost their lives on December 7th, 1941. Even Elvis Presley donated $64,000 dollars from a fundraising concert held in Honolulu in 1961.
The public tour allows a mere 10 minutes to visit on the memorial before you must reboard a boat to return to the visitor center. We arrived while there a short lull in visitors and were able to stay for about 15 minutes. This allowed me take some nice photos and to take in the atmosphere of sadness and triumph within the confines of this memorial.
Last visit I wasn’t even able to see the wall with all of the names of those who rest here eternally. This time I was not only be able to see the wall but I actually photographed it while there were very few people in the room.
At the bottom left of the photo above is a list of the sailors that survived the attack and the sinking of the Arizona, yet have chosen to be interred with their shipmates. On the back wall is the list of the 1,102 servicemen that lost their lives on the Arizona.
On either side of the memorial is the topside of the Arizona in the shallow waters just off of Ford Island. Below you can see the front end of the ship facing the bridge accessing Ford Island.
On the opposite side, 72 years after the attack, droplets of oil continue to seep from internal structure of the ship.
To give you an idea of amount of visitors in the memorial:
After we spent our allotted time at the memorial, we boarded the barge to complete our tour and sailed past the USS Bowfin.
She was launched 7 December 1942, a year to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was finally decommissioned 1 December 1971 and in 1979 was opened for tours in Pearl Harbor.
We then sailed under the bridge to Ford Island and back to the boathouse. I was grateful for the opportunity to see the Harbor from this perspective but I also gained so much knowledge about the attack from the wonderful sailors that served as our tour guides.
Thank you and a salute to our veterans as well as all active duty servicemen and women AND their families!
Becky while Patti (sis) was stationed in Hawaii we took this same military tour. You got to see & hear more than on the tourist tours. I still have the newspaper from that tour. Your blog post reminded me of our tour there. Brilliant post sweetie.
Thank you b!!! That is incredibly moving!