A Day at Pearl Harbor

Today we went to Pearl Harbor. I studied it a little before we left Bellingham, so I already knew some facts about it, like:
1) We were attacked by Japanese planes on December 5, 1941. They attacked us because they wanted to take over some of the SE Asian countries and islands, but new that we would interfere. So they decided to do a surprise attack on us at Pearl Harbor, so by the time we were ready to stop them, they would already be done with there goal.
2) Even though we saw them coming on the radar we didn't do anything because the commander thought they were our own, U.S. planes coming in from California
3) Overall, almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers were killed, and lots of ships and planes damaged or destroyed.
4) The next day, the president declared that we had now joined the war.
5) The Battle of Midway was the deciding battle, when the war finally stopped.

I got my homework from the people at Pearl Harbor. They have a Junior Ranger Program, like what I did in Alaska. I have it almost finished, but I can't get my badge until I get a few answers from Google. I'll put in pictures when I finish it.

photo of me with my badge:

We watched a movie about the bombing, then got on a boat and went out to see the USS Arizona Memorial. The memorial is built right over the top of the ship that was sunk during the bombing. Many of the men who died on it are still there, inside the ship. Also, the ship still leaks about a gallon of oil a day.  Here are some photos:

We also went over and got to board the USS Bowfin Submarine. It's listed as #16 in over 200 submarines that the U.S. has. I couldn't believe how small it was. Papa would never have been able to sleep in thouse beds they were so short and close together. There was no room for anything and you'd bump your head on everything and trip over stuff all the time. I think it would have been really scarey on a submarine during the war.

This is a picture of the Bowfin from the Arizona Memorial.

It looks like a skinny ship on top of a bubble boat.

Hallway                                Sleeping area for 18 men. There were more men than beds, so they'd take turns sleeping. When the woke someoneup for duty, they'd just take the spot and sleep until someone else woke them up. They had no personal area.

Distilling Barrels to change saltwater into drinking water... and cooking and showers. Here is the kitchen.

This gun took 2 people to steer and shoot.   Inside there were these hatches that divided all the rooms adn you had to step over it and duck your head at the same time in order to get through.

Here's the bathroom.                          This was in one of the control rooms.

This cigarette gun took 5 people to run.  I bought a book and got to get the autographs of two survivors of Pearl Harbor. They said there are only 5 survivors who live in Hawaii.

Next we went into the museum and it was really interested.

I'm standing next to the only tombstone that has been taken from the Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.

This case is all about LTJG Bush.  You can read what he says about his 1 month time on a submarine below:

When we got back to his fighter plane, he was shot down along with 8 others, but he was the only one who survived.

This is a good picture of what a nuclear powered submarine means. It's powered by taking a neutron, striking a uranium atom, which explodes with power and creates 2 more neutrons and the pattern continues. It's really powerful but REALLY dangerous.

This is a diver's suit. They were used to try to find men who were trapped in sunk ships after the bombing. The helmets seem extremely heavy.

We got to Pearl Harbor when it opened and stayed until it closed. We even missed the last bus back to Waikiki, so we had to walk an extra block to a bus stop. It was a fun day but I was exhausted.