When the Japanese attacked on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning in early December 1941, they caught the base completely off-guard. Located a handful of miles west of the city of Honolulu, Pearl Harbor serves as the home of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet. When you arrive at Pearl Harbor, you will enter near the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center off Kamehameha Highway. In order to enter the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, you have to go through security.
This 20-minute talk will discuss the heroes, myths and legacy of the attack at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day at the Museum. In affiliation with Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day Live!, two visitors per Museum Day Live!
Tours of the USS Arizona Memorial are free, all other attractions here have admission fees. If you plan on visiting a combination of sites or all of the sites, including the USS Missouri, the Submarine Bowfin, and the Aviation Museum, a tour or multipass is your best option. If you are only planning on touring the USS Arizona Memorial, be sure to book in advance or arrive early to secure a tour.
The tour begins in Hangar 37 and starts with a 12-minute video on the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the USS Bowfin Museum building, which covers all aspects of submarine history, are artifacts and models that trace the history of U.S. Navy submarines and submarines in general. The USS Bowfin was a submarine built during the Second World War and later restored by a private organization, the Pacific Fleet Submarine Memorial Association.
Docked just down the shore from the USS Arizona Memorial, is the USS Missouri, where the Japanese officially surrendered, ending WWII. The article was titled Aerial Attacks on Fleets at Anchor,” its words foretelling the events that transpired just over four years later when Japanese aircraft sought to deliver a crippling blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet on the date that for three-quarters of a century has lived in infamy. Captain Logan C. Ramsey, who as a lieutenant commander was on duty at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.
For military personnel stationed at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, the first thought upon seeing aircraft flying at high speed and low altitude was that some cocky aviator was flat-hatting, showing off for those on the ground. The famous message that announced the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Interest in attending Blue Angels practice airshows is extremely high and the museum parking lot quickly reaches full capacity, at which time the back gate WILL CLOSE to all non-Department of Defense visitors.