A L O H A!
Happy Saturday, Come in and Relax-
click on photos - then salute
USS Missouri Being Towed Past Diamond Head
USS Missouri Being Towed Past Diamond Head“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board”
Zora Neale Hurston
Her Great 16 inch Guns(They fire shells the size of volkswagens 20+ miles)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Dwight David Eisenhower
Surrender Deck, Tokyo Bay"Lord, bid war's trumpet cease;
"When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them."
Chinese Proverb
Chinese Proverb
Where did Summer Go?
Suddenly the floats are gliding down Kalakaua Avenue for today's Aloha Week Floral Parade.
The season just past was EPIC for South Shore surfers, and forecasters are calling for perfect big waves (and soon!) for Oahu's legendary North Shore.
Looks to be 6 to 10 feet today!
Just now, Waikiki is a glistening jewel set in azure waters, perfect for revving your engines - or just relaxing in style. China's Shaolin Monks are here, showing off their amazing moves at the Blaisdell Arena, and Aerosmith will perform here this Fall too. So many choices! Why just the other day a friend asked me if I was going to the Cazimero Brothers' Christmas Show at the Hawaii Theater again this year. Of course! But there's so much to enjoy around here before December. Heck, we even have opera!
One thing you WON'T be able to do for a while is to visit the Battleship Missouri; The "Mighty Mo" will be freed from her moorings on October 14th for the first time since arriving in Hawaii 11 years ago. Beginning before sun-up on that day, all 887 feet, and 54,899 tons of the grey lady will be nudged by three or four tugboats the two miles from Pearl Harbor's Pier Foxtrot 5 to the famous shipyard's Dry-dock 4. Dignitaries are invited along for the 12 to 14 hour ride. But hundreds more of us average folks are expected to be watching from the sidelines. Some lucky people residing up on the hillsides will be able to see the drama unfolding from their homes. Engineers are custom building 310 wooden "keel blocks" (8,000 pounds EACH) on which the giant will rest. Once inside the dry-dock it should take 3 hours for the water to be drained out while divers ensure the correct placement of bulk on block. (The dignitaries will be stuck with each other's company until the ship is high and dry ;) One of Hawaii's top 10 visitor attractions, the Mighty Mo drew 48,111 guests and pilgrims in July. That's 12 percent of all visitors to this island, including numerous WWII veterans from EVERY side of the war.
And yes, those are the big 16 inch guns that Cher cavorted on for her
"If I could Turn Back Time video!"
Sadly, the Association that manages the ship is forbidden from firing them (or the ships engines) inside Pearl Harbor. Watching the grey ghost glide past Waikiki from the deck of my own boat on Fathers' Day of 1998 was a surreal experience! Once tours resume on January 29th you can also hold your function or soiree aboard the ship's fan tail. What a place for a birthday party! (I'm just saying. . . .) You will again be able to walk the "Surrender Deck" where the Japanese Empire and the United States signed the instrument that ended WWII. While you are there, just look over one ship's length to the Arizona Memorial, and you will be looking at the spot where war began, from the very spot where it ended. Only in Hawaii!
I'll take plenty of parade pictures to share with you.
Have a great day-
A L O H A Cloudia
27 comments:
Hi Cloudia
My dad ran away to sea when he was a boy and ended up in the American Marine Navy. His ship happened to be in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered. He tells of seeing a man with a briefcase chained to his wrist disembarking from one of the ships...He assumes there were some very important papers contained therein...
Happy Days
The leviathans of war
are brutally handsome
beasts.
Difficult to know what to with such subjects, I find. I think you did all you could have done. A well-judged high-wire act!
That's a magnificent ship!
Good morning my friend! :-)
I've always been fascinated with what happened at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Oddly, perhaps, since the rest of WWII doesn't interest me at all.
I read a while back that Steven Tyler injured himself pretty badly falling off a stage. He must be healing up, if he is playing there with Aerosmith next month! Walk thissss wayyyyyyyy...
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board..i like this phrase..
What a great article. The DDE quote is fabulous and I'd not heard it before. I came by from Word Garden to visit today.
What a sensation it must be to walk under those guns!
Good Morning, Cloudia,
I loved today's post, especially the DDE quote. I've already passed it on to a friend.
Teresa
Such ships raise the spectre of a bygone era. Perhaps it's good it's gone.
My father served in the navy, and in three theaters of war during WWII. He stormed the beach at Normandy and lived to tell about it. His best friend was one of the first Americans to walk into a concentration camp to witness the atrocities after the Germans fled. His descriptions live on, even though he's passed, Dad's gone too. It irks me to hear idiots, like the president of Iran dismissing the Holocaust. I could puke.
My dad flew to Pearl Harbor after he retired, to see the memorial. You live in a special place.
Wow -- to push that ship out from the pier! I'm still surprised my 80-year-old Mom mustered up the ladders all over the Might Mo when we visited. The tour and stories were wonderful with lots of details, down to choosing a desk big enough for the surrender.
Pearl Harbor is so special, even before the attack. The PanAm Clipper ships used to fly into the harbor with passengers to Paradise in the late 1930s. And the Japanese and American kids all played with each other...
I was amazed that some veterans who survived the attack, and have recently died, can choose to have their ashes placed over the memorial. Those new additions joining their commrades have their names etched into a special wall at the memorial.
Thanks to all those vets! I've been honored to have several as patients, surviving Pearl Harbor and invasions. I've been stunned they made it back, and then they'd raise their pant legs or shirt, and show me that they didn't escape injury-free...
Aloha for the photos. DrumMajor
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Isaiah 2.4 & Micha 4.3
Oh, Cloudia
You have the best quotes of anyone! Love the Oliver Wendell Holmes quote, among others.
I like the way you juggled everything that's happening in your neck of the woods. Such an eclectic variety of offerings!
Love to you and hugs!
I am sooo behind today ... I echo the walking man's comment
Thanks for sharing this. A lot of exciting things going on in your neck of the woods- and a lot to consider :)
Another enjoyable read, great photos, great quotes and a flashback to our visit to the Missouri last December. An amazing experience and one we hope to repeat one day. We met a really nice guide who when he saw my father-in-law's veteran's hat took him on a personal tour of the ship, into places you couldn't get into on the normal walk through. It really made his holiday and what a great guy to do that for my 88 year old father-in-law. He will always have our admiration and thanks.
Gotta visit!
I love the Chinese proverb about the man who plants the bean sprouts.
Have a great Sunday!
What a ship!
alright i will rmb the man who planted them. hehe.
From me to you, suejean =)
I love reading your comments!
Thank you EACH
SO much,
Beautiful and a informative post !! This is so lovely !! Great Post..Unseen Rajasthan
I love the Cazimero Brothers. I'm sorry we missed the Aloha Week Parade. Doggone it! Next year, I guess.
I can't imagine bombs the size of VWs!!
unfortunately someone could
the shot of the older man and the child is so touching
Where'd summer go? Where'd my youth go? My dad was on the USS Wisconsin. I sent him the link.
I served on the USS Wisconsin, the Missouri's Sister ship during the Korean War. Since then I created a website chronicling for a former Navy Captain who served on both ships as well as a distinguished career on other assignments. I also printed it in book form to present to him at a ships reunion. Sinse then I have lost touch with him and need to know if he is still alive or not and if he wants me to kep his memory alive. His last address was in Hawaii. His name is Francis (Skip) Crawford. Would you by any chance know how I can reach him. Otherwise I will delete his website. it is http://sailorstale.homestead.com/
Thank You. George E. Matthai
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