24th March, 2016
OK, no, this is not the latest episode of Hawaii 50 where Dixon of Dock Green (a TV policeman from a LONG time ago) makes an appearance, it is the final blog from Waikiki!!
Well, today we set off by shuttle bus for Pearl Harbour having woken up just before 7.00am the day before to reserve two tickets to see the USS Arizona Memorial (there is a limited supply of tickets). There are 4 attractions to see in PH – the Memorial (more on this shortly), the USS Missouri (the last US battleship – more soon), the USS Bowfin, (a submarine) and a museum of planes that featured in the Pacific war zone of WWII.
First up was the Arizona. This was one of the battleships that was lined up in pairs on what was known as Battleship Row on the fateful day, 7th December, 1941 when the Japanese launched their surprise attack. It was sunk upright (in 3 minutes, I believe) in quite shallow water and has never been moved. The Memorial has been built straddling over the top and after a 23 minute film on the attack on PH you are shuttled over to it by Navy boat for a visit of about 20 minutes. It was really well done with the right level of sombre remembrance for those who died as well recognising the reasons for and consequences of the attack. The bodies of those who died were never recovered, so it is in effect a war grave. The ship still leaks oil (its tears, as someone described) and you can still make out the shape of various parts that remain above the surface such as a gun turret.
You can see the USS Missouri in the background and it was to this we went next. The ‘Mighty Mo’ as it was known was the last battleship to be launched (in 1944) in the US Navy and saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa including being hit by a kamikaze fighter. In this particular incident the plane hit the railing on the side of the ship and burst into flames, but did not explode. The pilot was the only one killed and was given a military burial – you can see the photos on the ship and they have put footprints on the deck to mark the position of those who took part. I have included a photo taken of the plane about to hit. The Missouri also served in the Korean War (1950 to 1953), was decommissioned and then brought back in 1984 to 1990 until finally returning to PH. What is particularly significant is that it was where the Japanese surrender was signed on 2nd September, 1945, moored in Tokyo Bay. The photo shows General MacArthur signing it on the deck. One of the men behind him is General Sir Arthur Percival who was the British commanding officer at the surrender of Singapore and then a POW. The other man is the American General Wainwright who had also been a POW for much of the war – MacArthur was presumably making a point to the Japanese! I can only imagine what the Japanese tourists – of whom there were many – thought of the whole experience.
Note the statue of the sailor and girl (as in the famous photo in Times Square) at bottom right of the bottom left photo above!
We reckoned we had seen about enough for the day so headed back to town after a nod to the USS Bowfin and the memorial to the USS Oklahoma on the way.
We rested the remains of the day, had a nice tabbanyaki meal in the evening and signed up for a luau for the following day.
25th March, 2016
Disaster – it is actually raining! This does not happen much in Waikiki apparently, but it did not stop us going to the Ala Moana shopping centre, the largest ‘open air’ shopping mall in the USA or so we were told. I think we were expecting a sort of market, but it was really only a shopping mall where some of the walkways between the shops were a bit open to the elements. It was worth going just to see the food court! Same old shops though, many of them very high-end (Tiffany, Cartier, Prada etc), so a bit disappointing, not least as the prices were much higher than the UK.
Sadly, due to the inclement weather our luau was cancelled, so our stay in Hawaii ended with a bit of a flop, but overall it had been good. It is pretty crowded on Oahu (the island we were on) and obviously very touristy, but it is still worth a visit.
26th March, 2016
We spent most of the day resting up prior to getting our flight to Dallas, so not much to report. I cannot say I was very impressed with what American Airlines had to offer on our 7 hour (domestic) flight – no food (unless you wanted to by a snack) and no movies – and I cannot sleep on flights.Not a major gripe (‘first world problems’!), though.
Next stop Texas!!
John & Val's World Travels 
