Visiting History in Hawaii- Guest Post from "500 Places With Kids"

Today Anne from 500 Places With Kids has written a fantastic guest post for us from her family’s visit to Hawaii! She has an absolutely incredible blog with their memoirs from traveling posted. A HUGE thank you to Anne for volunteering this month and helping me out with some guest posts to historical places!

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History in Hawaii, Part I: The USS Arizona Memorial

It’s only natural that when families travel to Hawaii for a vacation, they’ll want to spend a lot of their time on the beach. However, they shouldn’t ignore the fabulous opportunity for an impromptu history lesson on World War II provided by a visit to Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. In one day kids can learn how and why the United States entered the war, the role submarines and aircraft played in the fight in the Pacific, and visit the ship where the Japanese surrendered, bringing an end to World War II.

The first place to begin the day is at the USS Arizona Memorial run by the National Park Service. Tickets to board the boat to the memorial are free, but you should get there early in the day since tickets are distributed on a first-come-first serve basis.

While waiting for the ferry to the memorial, take the opportunity to wander around the Visitor Center with an audio tour that explains the memorabilia displayed in the galleries.

Once your group is called, you’ll watch an informative film about the attack on December 7, 1941, by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor and then board the boat that will take you to the memorial.

It’s a somber ride and everyone is quiet as you approach where the USS Arizona sank and 1,177 sailors and marines lost their lives- the most out of 21 vessels that were sunk or damaged on that fateful day.

Oil slicks, known as the “Tears of the Arizona” are visible on the water surrounding the rusted turret of the ship.