September 2, 2011

We left the hotel at 7:00 a.m. to go to the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, including the USS Arizona Memorial. We had tickets for the 9:oo a.m. movie. While we waited we went to the bookstore and the Museum.

After the movie, which had lots of original film footage from Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, we boarded a shuttle boat and were taken out to the USS Arizona Memorial. It is built right over the top of the USS Arizona, which was sunk by the Japanese. 1,771 men perished on the ship alone. there are several other ships smoke stacks which show just above the water line. They also were sunk that day.

In the afternoon, the rest of the hikers hiked up Diamond Head State Memorial. It took them a couple of hours. Meanwhile I was birdwatching, and added 10 new life birds to my list.

Pictures of USS Arizona Memorial, banana plant, Tunnel to Diamond Head, Red-crested Cardinal, Red-vented Bulbul and a beautiful flower.