Catch up blog, Tuesday 8/3

Okay, here is a long catch up blog, along with a lot of pictures.
Matt
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Sunday 8/1
Having settled into the true dorm room which is a dramatic let down from the accommodations of Lincoln Hall, and a restless night in a new bed. Though the room had a/c, the bed is smaller, there was only one pillow, and the entire set of accommodations felt second rate. I went down to brunch, which is a cafeteria style buffet. I didn't realize that we had paid for breakfast every day of the conference, because I missed it on Monday. After that, we met around 11:30 to head to Pearl Harbor for the day. Our guide was NPS historian and ranger, Dan Martinez. From what I later found out, he is one of the major experts on Pearl Harbor and the attack. He has been with the NPS at Pearl Harbor for many years and he was an informative host. We left the EWC and drove to Ford Island, seeing lots of places that normal tourists can't even though they are public memorials because they are on the navy base and after 9/11, access was restricted.

We stopped at the USS Utah memorial, one of the three ships that sunk and were never recovered. We then drove around the island, seeing the airfield at the center, before going to the Victory in the Pacific aviation museum. I am glad I didn't pay for it the first time around as it consists of only about 8 aircraft, all of which were once at Hickham Field. We then went to the old PBY docks and ramps, being shown pock marks in the concrete from 20mm and 7.5 mm shells and bullets. We then boarded the bus again and went to the USS Oklahoma memorial, some old Petty Officer Bungalows, then down to the shoreline to get a unique angle on the USS Arizona memorial from the near shoreline. Then it was pictures of the original 1950s Arizona memorial, before back on the bus and to the visitor center. We then took a tour of the harbor, and as the US Pacific Fleet was in harbor for the end of the RIMPAC exercises, there are pictures of three Marine amphibious assault and helicopter vessels as well as the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. We then saw where the USS Nevada memorial was, before coming to the Arizona memorial again. Finally, there was a welcome reception and dinner at the museum until about 8 o'clock.

Monday 8/2
This was a day of classroom lectures, boxed lunch, and a dinner down in Waikiki with me acting as tour guide but one of the nine person group choosing the restaurant: Duke's Canoe Club. Lectures throughout the day came from a Japanese scholar on Hiroshima, discussions of resources made available for us at the UofH, the NPS, and a few other sources. We had a lunch break, then three Pearl Harbor vets spoke. All were in the 80s, and all were interesting. One was a pharmacist mate who pulled bodies from the harbor and then was sent aboard the Arizona for six weeks to recover bodies, another had been aboard the Pennsylvania, and the last was a Japanese/American who was an ROTC cadet at the time of the attack. He was interred, then joined the Hawaiian Volunteer Guard, then the 442nd RCT, and finally Military Intelligence. After they spoke, we had four civilian survivors: another Japanese-American woman who saw the entire experience as a glass half full and was a teenager who saw internment as a joyful lark, two were survivors of the attack on Kwalajean in the Marshall Islands, and the last was a Japanese Hiroshima survivor who was 16 at the time of the attack. We later learned that the woman had horrible stories to tell, but refused to tell them, while the Hiroshima survivor told his horrible stories clearly.

After the day broke up around 445, a group of us went down to Waikiki by bus. Since I had been here for 3 weeks, I was the tour guide. We walked the beach, then went to Duke's Canoe Club. Due to a series of rain mishaps and long waits, one group braved the outside and the other waited inside for nearly 2 hours for a table. The food was good when we finally got a table around 8:30, but was it worth a 2 hour wait? Probably not. I would have left, but since I was the tour guide, we spent the time getting to know each other better. We then left and caught the 10 o'clock bus, and I was back on campus by 10:30.

Tuesday, 8/3
I didn't sleep well last night. My stomach has finally decided to rebel after three and a half weeks. I was fighting a troubled tummy all day. However, after breakfast, it was an early day out and about to Fort DeRussy, then the Punchbowl, then lunch with seven Pearl Harbor military survivors (half of the 15 still alive in Hawaii) at the Hickham Airforce Base Officers club, and then a tour of Hickham field. We then boarded the bus, dropping some people off downtown at the royal palace, some at Waikiki, and others back at the dorms. Since my stomach was rebelling by this point, I staid in my room and rested, reading, and catching up. I then attended a bit of the optional movie at 7, staying until 8:45 when I realized I had not eaten. I left, went to Safeway, and then made it back to my room by 9:30.

I took some meds for the upset stomach, but I am not sure what will happen tomorrow. This is one of the times I wish I had my own bathroom, rather than sharing with three others.
Gah!