I have been to Hawaii many, many times for my job mostly. I flew from O’Hare to Honolulu for two years, mostly twice per week. Before that, my wife and I took the kids over there twice. We went to Pearl Harbor both times. On our second visit, we went out to PH and back then, which was 1990, there were older men walking around wearing a green uniform and caps. They had dark green slacks, light green shirts and a dark green baseball style cap. They were former Navy, Marines and Army veterans that were on duty the day PH was attacked.
Their purpose for being there was to meet and greet tourists and also to give us the opportunity to ask any questions about December 7, 1941. I think I tied up the one gentleman for at least an hour. He looked at his watch and told me it was his lunchtime. I told him I would consider it a privilege if he would allow me to buy him lunch. He readily accepted. We had a very good lunch and a great conversation.
A few years later when I started flying to Hawaii, on one trip, I decided to take the bus out to the Harbor. What surprised me was that the greeters were all gone. I asked one of the security people what happened to them and I was told that the numbers of available men were decreasing rapidly, so the people that oversee the Harbor decided to discontinue using them. That was a shame because they were a real plus being out there and allowing people to question them and hear their stories of that day in December.
With this gentleman gone, so goes a lot of history. They replaced these men with a movie that lasted maybe about a half hour. If I remember it correctly, all of the amenities out there were free, including the tour of the USS Arizona. The Navy takes you out and back and they have strict rules while onboard their boat. It’s very solemn on the Arizona as it should be. I remember seeing the Arizona still leaking fuel. There are markers inside listing all the men who went down with the boat. It sure put a lump in my throat.
