Aloha From Hawaii

 Aloha!  The most commonly used word in Hawaii and of course that is where we are now and where I post my latest dispatch.
First thing to report is boy are we tired!  We are perhaps starting to think that age is catching up on us a tad and that this jetting around and packing as much into each day as possible is perhaps not the way forward and that from time to time we should take things a little slower.  Maybe we'll try that approach on the next trip!
Anyway, we successfully negotiated our two flights on Southwest out of Denver and American Airlines out of LA and I have to say that the two airlines presented quite a contrast to each other.  I am of course something of an aviation anorak and had certainly read much about Southwest and its operational philosophy in America which has brought it huge success.  Well I can see why because at every stage of their operation, they are filled with people who exude joy and enthusiasm and they successfully transfer this to their passengers.  American on the other hand left me a touch lost for words...unusual in my case!  The staff look totally fed up and certainly that they don't want to be there.  Whilst they got us to Hawaii safely, which is the important thing,  everything was so half hearted and energy less and didn't strike me as a recipe for success.  Enough anorak stuff!
Hawaii, the island of Oahu and the first place to visit?  Pearl Harbor.  Everyone knows the name and that it was the site of a Japanese attack on the American navy but we learnt so much more today and both of us found it both moving and emotional.  The site is after all a war grave.
The Americans actually were totally unaware that this attack was coming which it did at 0748 hours on 7th December 1941.  It profoundly shocked America and led directly to their entry into World War Two in both the Pacific and European arenas, a stance that was eventually to bring about the surrender of both Japanese and Germans.
The attack came in two waves which in total utilised 353 planes launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers.  Only 29 of those planes were shot down but such was the destruction that this attack wreaked, 2,390 people lost their lives including 1,999 sailors!  The worst death and destruction befell the USS Arizona - 1,177 sailors and marines were killed on this ship alone - and many hundreds were never recovered, remaining on the ship to this day.
In 1962 a memorial was built over the sunken hull of the battleship and in 1989, the hull of the USS Arizona was declared a National Historic Landmark.  The memorial can only be reached by boat and receives over 1,000,000 visitors per annum.  Looking at the hull beneath the waters of Pearl Harbor and then at the wall containing the names of every mariner lost on the Arizona, it is difficult to appreciate the horrors that so many people suffered on that day in 1941.  The visit was extremely moving.

I will return to the Pearl Harbor experience tomorrow to tell you about the submarine USS Bowfin but in the meantime, as I struggle with matchstalks keeping my eyes open, here are just a few photos of the Arizona Memorial.