USS OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL

While you wait for your tour time (listed on your ticket), the exhibit galleries invite you to experience firsthand the sights and sounds of the events leading up to the attack on Oahu and its aftermath. Personal memorabilia, photos, battle artifacts and other exhibits immerse you in the emotion. Then head to the Pearl Harbor Memorial Theater, which shows a 23-minute documentary film (required) about December 7, 1941 and the attack. This presentation immediately precedes your boarding the boat to Ford Island. This is the site of the memorial to the 429 soldiers who lost their lives on the USS Oklahoma. Built during the 14-18 war and then sent to Europe during the Spanish Civil War, the ship was a real fortress. However, Japanese torpedoes got the better of her by tipping her over the side. It took two years and nearly 2,000 divers to repair and right the wreck. But fate was against the USS Oklahoma, which sank on the high seas while being towed to San Francisco. You will not see the ship but a memorial built on the initiative of the few survivors. The black granite represents the lost ship and the white pillars represent the sailors who were taken with her. The monument invites reflection and meditation on that fateful day. You will certainly see necklaces of flowers placed on the monument, a tribute from the descendants of the deceased.