The Pearl Harbor Blog

The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor will be celebrating its 50th anniversary during Memorial Day weekend.  Beginning Friday, May 25 and concluding on Monday, May 28, special events will be held at the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center and on the Arizona Memorial.

To kick off the festivities there will be a fundraiser golf event at the Klipper Golf Course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay that Friday. The format will be a foursome shotgun scramble, and each group will include a combat veteran.  Starting the day is reception and registration at 11:30 am, tee off is at 12:30, cocktails at the club house at 4:30, which will be followed by entertainment and a banquet at the Officer’s Club at 5:30.

USS Arizona Memorial Shrine Room

Special guests and speakers to include Admiral Locklear, Admiral Macke, General Lee, Mayor Peter Carslile and former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle. If you are interested in participating in this event, check out the event info page.

Beginning Saturday, May 26 a vigil guard will be held in the shrine room of the Arizona Memorial by the Marine Corps Honor Guard for the anniversary.

Public programs to the Arizona Memorial will be cancelled beginning at 12:00 noon on Sunday, May 27 in order to host the anniversary ceremony. The Pearl Harbor Visitors Center and it’s museums with audio tour will be open during it’s regular hours of 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. Sadly for this special event tours of Arizona Memorial will be unavailable.

The USS Arizona Memorial to celebrate 50 years of remembering fallen heroes.

While tours on Sunday afternoon are unavailable, Monday, May 28 would be a great day to visit the USS Arizona memorial. Every ticket holder will receive a commemorative card, a tribute flower, and have the opportunity to participate in a floral tribute while visiting the memorial.

For more details and a complete list of events check out their event homepage.

Aloha!

Celebrities from the new Hollywood film Battleship, directed by Peter Berg, went to Hawaii to visit Pearl Harbor for a photocall. The posed photograph of celebrities in Hawaii was taken at Pearl Harbor in front of the USS Missouri Battleship, one of the most visited attractions a Pearl Harbor.

Battleship, the movie

Overseas, Battleship has already grossed over $100 million. Actress and singer Rihanna was at Pearl Harbor with castmates Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch, and Alexander Skarsgard for the photo shoot, which took place at the historic location where most of the movie was filmed.

Battleship actors visit Pearl Harbor: Director Peter Berg, actors Brooklyn Decker, Gregory Gadson, Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, Alexander Skarsgard

Battleship will debut in the United States on May 18, 2012.

Until then, you can visit the USS Missouri and take a guided deck tour of the “Mighty Mo”, where you can walk beneath the massive gun barrels that point toward the USS Arizona Memorial as a symbol of protection over the sunken battleship. The USS Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States.

Learn more about the USS Missouri

When you visit Pearl Harbor, be sure to spend time at the USS Missouri, located on Ford Island. Thousands of visitors arrive at Pearl Harbor everyday to see the Visitor Center and board the navy-operated boat to the USS Arizona Memorial, and hundreds more continue on to the Missouri, a massive battleship that’s been stationed at

Japanese surrender aboard the Missouri

Did you know? It was aboard the USS Missouri where the Empire of Japan signed the official Instrument of Surrender in 1945 to end the Second World War.

Arrival at Pearl Harbor

In 1998, the USS Missouri was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. Subsequently, the ship became one of Pearl Harbor’s most popular attractions.

Visit Pearl Harbor today

If you’re planning your a visit to Hawaii, we recommend taking a tour of the top attractions at Pearl Harbor, including the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri, and the Pacific Aviation Museum.

When you visit Pearl Harbor, you might meet a Pearl Harbor Survivor at the visitors center, where survivors volunteer their time almost everyday of the year.

Survivors enjoy sharing their stories with visitors, who show their respect in return for the courageous acts of the survivors.

However, there is also so much to see at Pearl Harbor—the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri Battleship, the Pacific Aviation Museum—you might not have enough time in one day to hear a survivor’s story in addition to seeing all of the major attractions at Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor Survivors at the Visitor Center

Listen to a survivor’s story

Pearl Harbor Survivor Michael “Mickey” Ganitch (USS Pennsylvania) shares his story with students at Hayward High School in California.

Ganitch recalls the events leading up to the attack, the event itself, and the key mistake the Japanese military made that helped America win the war.

“If the Japanese would’ve had that third attack, I’m not sure we would’ve won the war. When I think about that, we were very fortunate. That was one of the biggest mistakes Japan made that really saved us.”

Ganitch is a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association Chapter 2, Alameda County.

Meet a survivor at Pearl Harbor

If you take a tour of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and meet survivors who volunteer their time at the visitor center, be sure to shake their hands and thank them for their brave contributions to the United States. These survivors are living testaments to the strength and courageousness in all of us that help us rise above challenges and succeed.

What would you ask a Pearl Harbor survivor if you had the chance?

If you’re interested in taking a Pearl Harbor tour, the Pacific Aviation Museum has a new reason to visit!

The Pacific Aviation Museum and the Hawaii Military Vehicle Restoration Association have teamed up to bring life back into an old war bird. The Douglas C-47 known as “Cheeky Charlie” earned her nickname while flying missions in the Philippines during WWII for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). She then flew for the Australian Government, and more recently was flying cargo inter-island for Kamaka Air.

"Cheeky Charlie" courtesy of Pacific Aviation Museum

A Pearl Harbor Tour Is History In Action

She was received earlier this week by Lt. Shealy’s Restoration Shop located within the Museum’s Hanger 79 on Ford Island.

Restoration projects like this are what makes Pearl Harbor’s Pacific Aviation Museum such an amazing place to visit! Not only are there displays of planes and helicopters representing the last 70 years of military aviation, you can visit an active restoration shop and see the care and effort it takes to return these birds to glory.

"Cheeky Charlie" in front of Hangar 79 courtesy of Pacific Aviation Museum

If you’re visiting Hawaii and staying on a neighbor island, we offer a variety of island hopping packages from Maui, Kauai, & the Big Island which include a Pearl Harbor Tour.

Aloha!

Frank Chebetar was aboard the USS Phelps when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

That day changed his life.

Chebetar survived the attack that launched the United States into World War II. He served in the US Navy through 1960 and later worked for the Naval Security Group in Norfolk, Virginia.

Pearl Harbor Survivor Frank Chebetar recently passed away in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Photo by U.S. Navy.

“Let’s never forget Pearl Harbor.”

He lived to keep the story of Pearl Harbor alive, and played a significant role in building the Pearl Harbor memorial at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Each week, Chebetar polished the brass ship’s bell with care. He was dedicated to preserving the memory of Pearl Harbor.

In 1971, Chebetar founded the local Pearl Harbor survivors group in Hampton Roads. The new organization fueled his passion for preserving history.

“That gave Dad a new mission in life,” his son, Gerald Chebetar, told The Virigina-Pilot, a local newspaper. “He always said: ‘Let’s never forget Pearl Harbor. Always be prepared.’”

Legacy of Pearl Harbor

There are 12 remaining members in the Hampton Roads Pearl Harbor survivors group. Although the future of the group is yet to be decided, Chebetar told The Virginia-Pilot last December, ”Even when there’s only two of us, that’s still enough for a group.”

In December 2010, the National Pearl Harbor Survivors group disbanded, mainly because its member numbers continue to decrease as survivors, now in their early 90s, pass away.

Who will you salute?

Honor a Pearl Harbor survivor or the memory of those who have passed.

Visit Pearl Harbor on your trip to Hawaii, leave a comment below, or write to us on Facebook.

In 2010 when the new Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opened, the National Park Service welcomed visitors to new exhibits featuring the stories of Japan and the United States.

The park service historians believed in sharing perspectives from both countries on the Pearl Harbor attacks.

Pearl Harbor Museum

Museum displays include:

• clips from Japanese theater newsreels
• photos of Babe Ruth on a Japan tour in the 1930s.
• Histories about Japan and America’s impending involvement in the war
• Newspaper headlines about Japan and World War II
• Photos from after the attacks on Pearl Harbor
• A pharmacist mate’s bloodied white uniform.
• Models of a Japanese battleship, fighter planes, and more
• Videos, photos, and much more

A recent blog post by Discover Hawaii Tours brings to life the Pearl Harbor Museums at the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument.

The Pearl Harbor Museum Today

Every day, nearly 4,000 visitors arrive at Pearl Harbor to experience the museums, memorials, and more. Every visitor should spend time at the museums at Pearl Harbor.

Plan your next trip to Pearl Harbor, click here.

A gun barrel from the battleship USS Arizona will soon be on display at a new World War II memorial in Phoenix, Arizona. The new memorial, which will feature relics from Pearl Harbor,  is scheduled to be dedicated on December 7, 2012.

“In the 1950s, the US Navy scrapped 38 of these barrels—they were cut up and melted down,” Robin Staton told the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. Staton is a retiree with 42 years of work experience at the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren in Arizona.

From 1925 until 1938, the gun barrel served aboard the USS Arizona. Then, it was sent to Dahlgren for testing. Its next home was aboard the USS Nevada, where it served in the D–Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

You can read the full story here.

The USS Arizona Memorial

Each day, thousands of visitors arrive at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center in Hawaii, where they witness the original site of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The USS Arizona Memorial is dedicated to the 1,177 sailors entombed in the sunken battleship, still resting below the harbor’s waters.

Have you visited the Arizona Memorial before? 

Anyone interested in employment opportunities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard? The PHNSY Apprentice and Engineering Career Fair will be held this Saturday, April 14, 2012.

8 a.m. to 12 p.m
April 14, 2012
Honolulu Community College (HCC) main campus
874 Dillingham Blvd.,Honolulu.

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard logo

The event is open to all U.S. citizens interested in employment at the shipyard.

The Apprentice program is open to all U.S. citizens who will be 18 years or older by January 15, 2013. All applications must have graduated from high school to be eligible.

The Apprentice Program

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, in partnership with Honolulu Community College, places apprentices alongside journeymen. At HCC, students receive trade theory training and work toward a degree in Applied Trades.

The four-year long Apprentice Program is a highly competitive work/study program. The main goal of the program is to prepare students for careers in various industrial trades.

Graduates of the program are typically offered permanent employment positions at the PHNSY.

More information

Visit http://www.navsea.navy.mil/shipyards/pearl/phnsy/Careers.aspx for more information on the program.

Rapper and actor Todd Smith, or LL Cool J, took a tour of Pearl Harbour and the USS Arizona Memorial with his family. The Arizona Memorial was dedicated in 1962, designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis.

Captain Lawrence Scruggs gave the Smith family a tour of the Arizona Memorial during their vacation to Hawaii. LL Cool J is in Hawaii for the filming of Hawaii 5-0.

Photos of LL Cool J’s visit

LL Cool J at the USS Arizona Memorial (Photo: US Navy)

LL Cool J at the USS Arizona Memorial

Have you visited the Arizona Memorial before?

What did you think of the memorial? How did you feel when you first stepped off the boat and into the memorial?

Learn more about Pearl Harbour here.

On April 24, 2012, the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight will bring dozens of World War II veterans from the Midwest to Washington D.C., where they will visit the World War II Memorial and other destinations.

The war veterans, who can recall WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor as if it were yesterday, will share in emotional memories of one of America’s most significant events in history will no doubt bring forth new memories on this honor flight trip.

Honoring Pearl Harbor Survivors

On the opposite side of the country, Pearl Harbor veterans volunteer their time at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, where hundreds of visitors arrive to see the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin Submarine, and more. The survivors enjoy signing books and greeting visitors, who pay respects to the brave sailors who survived December 7, 1941.

Iowa resident Larry Hager, although not a Pearl Harbor survivor, recalls the year 1942 when he realized he needed to enlist in the United States Air Force.

Hager closed his sign painting shop, leaving a sign in the door that read (to paraphrase): “Will reopen when the war is over.”

If you find the time to talk with the Pearl Harbor survivors on your next trip to Oahu, you will always remember the moments they share with you.

Meet Pearl Harbor Survivors at the Visitor Center

Visit Pearl Harbor today, click here to start.