Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona Memorial

Student groups heading out on their dream Hawaiian Island excursion will not soon forget the powerful experience of a trip to the USS Arizona Memorial at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center; more than a million visitors from all over the world cross the water every year just to pay their respects to the hundreds of selfless men and women who lost their lives in the ultimate sacrifice on December 7th, 1941 – “The Day of Infamy.” Accessible only by boat, the USS Arizona Memorial spans the sunken hull of the ambushed vessel – a Pennsylvania-class battleship built for and by the United States Navy in the mid- 1910s – without ever touching it. One thousand, one hundred seventy-seven officers and crewmen went down with her. A sobering cross section of wartime history awaits guests upon debarking; sweeping panoramic views of now-peaceful Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial serve as a grand backdrop for a fully – immersive WWII history lesson. Be sure to visit the USS Bowfin Submarine , the USS Missouri Battleship, and Ford Island while you’re there; you’ll leave with a heart forever changed and a newrespect for the men and women of our military along with an enhanced understanding of what “Pearl Harbor Day” meant – and continues to mean – to our great Nation. Upon their death, survivors of the attack may have their ashes placed within the ship, to rest among their fallen comrades; veterans who served aboard the USS Arizona at other times may request to have their ashes scattered in the water above her sunken remains.