Visiting Pearl Harbor is a must do in Hawai’i whether you’re a tourist or a resident. And while there are endless blogs and Youtube videos regarding experiencing the USS Arizona, I still won’t hesitate to share mine. I’m a person who really loves and enjoys history, not just as a pastime, but as a traveler, it allows for deeper meaning, understanding, and appreciation when I make it to a place. It’s an learning experience I have taken with me across historic sites in Europe to the isolated atolls of the Central Pacific. Visiting the USS Arizona, was one of those places right here in my current island home of O’ahu.
I have visited Pearl Harbor once before but only visited the submarine Bowfin as well as the Aviation Museum. But a few days ago amidst the barricades of the coronavirus pandemic, I found it a priority to make the simple trip to a site that is so simple to visit. Like anyone else would, I entered the visitors center, put my name on the wait list, & waited 30 minutes before hopping on a Navy operated boat bound for the memorial for the sunken USS Arizona. Arriving at the Memorial is a smooth disembarking experiences walking up a handicap ramp and into the white structure that is in place of a memorial hovering right over the sunken hull as if you’re hovering over the resting place of over a thousand souls from the attack of Dec 7 1941.
While I can write a post about walking in and around the memorial, I really wanted to emphasize the importance of one thing: MINDFULNESS. The memorial was built and completed in 1962, and structurally composed to create an experience for the visitor and that is exactly what it was for me, an experience. The space and design of the memorial allows you to take in the loss experienced during the attack and what remains of the hull underwater to a point of being overwhelming to the spirit. At the rear of the memorial and to the port side of the Arizona, are all the names of those perished. Here is where I broke down, cried, and truly felt the experience that should be had here. The combination of the aesthetics of the memorial and the education I’ve attained of the attack, it brought me to the moment I felt was necessary for the visit.
That’s really it honestly! Simple of a post that reflects the simplicity of this visit. If you ever make it to O’ahu and plan to visit the USS Arizona, try and educate yourself on the attack itself. And then when you go, take a step back from yourself and your trip, and take it all in….for the experience!
