PEARL HARBOR 75TH
ANNIVERSARY WWII MUSEUM TOUR
HONORING THE PAST
INSPIRING THE FUTURE
Late in the afternoon of
Dec 1st I registered at a special Reception Desk at the Moana
Surf Rider Hotel in Honolulu Hawaii where I joined a group of 80 people who came
to participate in the 75thAnniversary of the bombing of Pearl
Harbor. The event was sponsored by the National World War II Museum located in
New Orleans La. I was immediately handed a hand-written invitation “Dear Dr.
Kristeller we are pleased to welcome you and cordially invite you to join the
President’s table this evening at the Opening Dinner after the reception in the
Ball Room Foyer. Please find your seat at the Reserved table near the
stage in the Ball Room. Sincerely, The Travel Department Team.”
I was speechless.
The table of nine
included Former Congressman Jim Courter, a well-respected Legislator from NJ,
now Chairman of the Board of the Museum and Dr. Gordon Mueller, President and
CEO of the Museum. Dr. Mueller delivered an address that set the tone for the
7-day tour.
The next day was devoted
to a Symposium: Asia Aflame, The Road to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the Brink of
War and Pearl Harbor in the Global Perspective. The panel members were all
noted historians and published authors, recruited by the Museum.
The evening was spent at
the famous Aloha Tower where entertainment by the students of the Hawaii
Pacific University began with a traditional Hawaiian Chant.
Dec 3rd began
with a tour of the Iolani Palace followed by a visit to the remaining gun
emplacements at the Kualoa Ranch on the windward side of Oahu. The evening
included a lecture “the Japanese attack plan”
Sunday Dec 4th, we
first visit the submarine USS Bowfin moored at Pearl Harbor where we gingerly
descend into its hull and long narrow passage way with its cramped quarters and
torpedoes. This is followed by our transportation out to the Arizona Memorial
by a boat manned by Marines. This is my 4th visit to the
Arizona. In 1956, I began my three-year Residency in Internal Medicine at
Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii. My parents attended the Olympics in Australia
that year and stopped in Hawaii on the way home to visit me. I mentioned their
coming visit to a Navy friend who was assigned to the Staff of the
Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Stark. My Navy friend said be
at Pier such and such at 0900 next Sunday with your parents. We were there on
time when the Admirals Barge in full regalia with Marine escort came along
aside and took us to the wooden platform erected above the Arizona. It had a
flag pole and a bronze plaque, nothing more. The flag was raised each morning
and lowered each evening as the ship was never decommissioned. I still remember
the chill up and down my spine as I stood there peering at the gun turret
visible at the surface of the water.
2 years ago, my
grandson, on leave from the Israeli Defense Forces after fighting in Gaza, came
to visit me in Hawaii and we spent some prayerful time at the Arizona
Memorial.
Sunday evening our group
participated in the Diamond Head Luau
Monday Dec 5th, we
Tour Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Field. Wheeler has a special memory
for me. Prior to coming to Hawaii for my Residency, I obtained my private
pilot’s license, fixed wing, single engine at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
The Air Force at Hickham Hawaii had a flying club with air craft housed at
Wheeler. One Sunday I signed out a plane and I flew the same route as the
Japanese when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I could see the iron doors in the sides
of the irrigation ditches of the sugar cane fields. Behind them, hidden away
under the cane fields, were ammunition hoards.
In the afternoon, we
visited the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. This is the newly established
laboratory that identifies bodies of deceased troops so that the remains can be
returned to their families. Everyone was amazed at the diligence and esprit de
corps of the personnel working there under the command of General Spindler.
Having been a member of an Air Force accident investigation that included
identification of 5 burned bodies, I was particularly impressed with the
professionalism of the laboratory.
The lecture in the
evening was titled: Bastions of the Pacific.
Tuesday Dec 6th, we
visit Marine Corps Air Station Ewa Field. Lunch is at a Tea House located in
the heights above and overlooking Pearl Harbor. The house was used by the
Japanese to spy on our fleet at Pearl.
In the afternoon, we
tour the Marine Corps Air Base at Kaneohe. The lecture for the day is “D-Days
in the Pacific.”
Dec 7th The
Day of Infamy. We board the bus at 5 am for Kilo Pier at Pearl. We join a crowd
of some 3000 people for the ceremonies that begin at 0930. The scene is
indescribable. You have to see the pictures. There are a very small group of
survivors of the Arizona and the other ships. There were elderly people in
wheel chairs who were local kids at the time of the attack and witnessed the
horror, we rubbed shoulders with medal of Honor Awardees, there were people in
uniform from all branches of service and all ranks. I stopped and talked with a
General when I noted that he was wearing Calvary spurs. There were Veterans
from the Korean and Viet Nam wars, there were ROTC cadets, there were Boy Scout
contingents. A war ship passed by and everyone in uniform saluted as its
American Flag sailed past, there was a fly over formation with the missing
plane.
Again, you have to see
the pictures. This was the America of the Greatest Generation in which I grew
up. After the ceremony, we returned to Honolulu for lunch.
At 3pm we saddle up for
a visit to the Utah and Oklahoma Memorials and the Pacific Aviation Museum. At
the Air Museum, a B-25 Bomber is on display. Again, memory lane for me. At Randolph,
I was logging flying hours in order to qualify as a Flight Surgeon. That meant
sitting for 4 hours in the Radioman’s seat of a B-25. Unless the pilot
permitted me to come to the cock pit it meant 4 hours sitting in the windowless
middle of the plane.
In the evening, the
lecture for the day is “D-Days in the Pacific.”
It is now 6pm and we
board and tour the Battleship Missouri. There is a picture of the signing of
the Peace Treaty. In the lineup of Admirals is Senator McCain’s Grandfather. Also,
there is Admiral Carney who later became Chief of Naval Operations. His mother
was a patient of mine at Tripler.
After the tour, we have
our closing reception and Farwell dinner. Dr. Mueller delivers an emotional
wrap up and receives a
warm round of applause. It is a bitter sweet moment because we have all shared
a tremendously moving and unforgettable 7-day adventure.
In summary, I am both
exhausted and transformed.
Now all that said
Permit me to bring to
your attention an extremely significant fact
At no time during the
day long Ceremony honoring the fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives for our
great country did the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, the President of
the United States, make an appearance either in person or via television. Nor
did he send an emissary. Nor did he send any communication to those gathered
for the ceremony. He was conspicuous
by his absence
God Bless America.
Respectfully
Ralph Kristeller
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