There are three prominent historical sites on Oahu that everyone should visit. First one is an easy guess, USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Second one is USS Missouri which berth on another side of Pearl Harbor. The last is Iolani Palace, the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which is also close to Pearl Harbor. Iolani Palace is small and you can simply drive by to pay a quick visit.
USS Arizona
To visit USS Arizona Memorial, visitor should better reserve online in advance. National Park Service does give away limited walk-in tickets every day. If you prefer that way, you better walk-in very early to get onto Memorial quick or you will stuck at late time slot. You could tour two museums and exhibits along the harbor during waiting. USS Arizona Memorial alone is about 1 hour and 15 mins including a documentary and a boat ride to the memorial. Boat service may temporarily suspend or cancel due to weather or other incidents. Like us, boat for our time was suspended due to thunder. Many people waited in the beginning and eventually gave up. We also walked away but luckily the boat two slots behind ours resumed service. We ran back and hopped on.
The spot where the Instrument of Formal Surrender of Japan is signed
USS Arizona Memorial View from USS MIssouri
USS Missouri battleship (Big Mo) was best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II. On board USS Missouri, you will see Japanese Instrument of Surrender and the place where the Instrument was signed. Big Mo is huge and may take you two hours to walk through.
USS Missouri
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