USS Arizona Memorial - Visitor Center

Seeing the USS Arizona Memorial had a very powerful effect on me, both when I first saw it back in 1993 and again today. Not only was it the site where the United States was brought into World War 2, but it is also the watery grave of well over 1,000 men.

Here's an overall panorama of the site, taken from the Memorial's Visitor Center.
To get here by transit from Waikiki, take Bus #42. It'll take about an hour and you really shouldn't depart any later than 10am or the tours may all be full.
For reasons of security, they won't allow any bags to be brought in. this includes purses and camera cases that you can't fold up and put in your pocket. Shirts and shoes are mandatory, more out of respect for the dead.
You're given a ticket which indicates when you'll watch the preliminary movie and then take the boat ride over to the actual memorial. We arrived just after 10am but had to wait until 12:20pm. There's lots to see before this, so it wasn't a problem but small kids might get impatient.
Behind the man on the left in the blue shirt and the grey hat is my Mom, holding up the line-up to the women's restroom. Okay, they may have been cleaning it at the time but I prefer my version.
The tour itself is free but we opted to pay $5.00 each to listen to the audio tour. It's extremely well done and something I would recommend to everyone.

Here's the bell that was recovered from the ship.
This is a painting of the Arizona as it would have looked before the fateful day of December 7, 1941.
There were many, many Japanese tourists present. Some of these people must have been kids when their country attacked the U.S. Though WW2 was a disaster for them, it did force their country to dramatically change in a much more positive direction.
This is a 3-D casting of the Island of Oahu. Pearl Harbor sits on the southern (bottom) edge, approximately in the middle.
It's hard to see, but if you enlarge this next photo you will see several red boat markers. The Arizona is the one on the right on the second row from the bottom.
I couldn't help but capture the beauty of this exquisite flower. I don't know what type it is but the mixture of orange and blue leaves was an example of nature at its finest.