Pearl Harbour: What you need to know about visiting

View of the USS Missouri and USS Arizona Memorial. Photo / US Navy

December 7, 1941, is a "day which will live in infamy" as prophesied at the time by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt: the day when Imperial Japanese navy aircraft wreaked havoc on pretty Pearl Harbour in Honolulu, Hawaii, in surprise, pre-emptive attacks that would result in the United States' entry into World War II.

Millions of people from around the world flock to the national monument to learn more about the attack and pay their respects to the thousands of people who died - civilians and military - on that fateful day. Here are a few things to know before you go.

It's adjacent to a working military base
The Pearl Harbor National Memorial - or the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, as its officially titled - is next to a working US military base, so there are tight security requirements and you can't take photos from the coach when moving between the sites.

The Captain's cabin onboard the USS Missouri. Photo / Shandelle Battersby

It's a day trip from Waikiki Beach

The journey is about 35km and can be done by tour bus, public bus or taxi. Bus fares are US$2.75 each way and you need exact change for your ticket.

It's free to get in
The visitor centre and the USS Arizona Memorial are free to access but you need to book a time slot for the Arizona tour (every 15 minutes from 7.30am to 3pm). You can do this ahead of time on recreation.gov. Otherwise, tickets and times are first-come, first-served.

You can't take any bags inside
There are lockers outside the visitor centre. All you can basically take in a clear plastic water bottle, a wallet the size of your hand, a camera and a phone.

There's a lot to do there
Plan your day carefully - there's lots to do and you should go early before the heat kicks in. As well as the free tour to the USS Arizona Memorial, this is where you buy your tickets to the other historic sites: the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, the Battleship Missouri Memorial and the Pacific Aviation Museum. The visitor centre has a couple of excellent museum galleries depicting the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese and explaining the road to war, and there are shoreline exhibits too, including a Remembrance Circle. Grab an audio headset for narration by actor Jamie Lee Curtis of what you're seeing.

The Bowfin Submarine, to the right of the visitor centre, is a fleet attack submarine that fought in the Pacific during World War II. A tour will take you about an hour; children under 4 are not allowed on board for safety reasons.

The USS Arizona Memorial has reopened
Pearl Harbour's striking white USS Arizona Memorial reopened in September 2019 after 15 months and US$2 million of repair work, which is good news for the more than 4000 people who visit daily. You get to it via US Navy shuttle boats from the visitor centre.

The USS Arizona Memorial. The memorial marks the location where more than 1,000 men were killed on the battleship USS Arizona. Photo / US Navy

The vast majority of the 1512 men on board USS Arizona died after the ship was bombed. Despite the crowds, the distinctive oblong-shaped memorial that sits over the wreckage of the ship is a solemn and reflective place with visitors speaking in hushed tones out of respect for the 900-plus men are still entombed within it. Since 1982, the remains of several survivors of the attack who have since died have been interred in the well of gun turret 4 alongside their shipmates.

You can stand in the exact spot where World War II ended
A coach will take you to Ford Island, an islet in the harbour accessed via a long bridge still used by the US military. The island's Battleship Row - a lineup of US battleships in port - was a primary target of the Japanese planes in 1941. You can get off the shuttle at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, home to some brand new state-of-the-art Fighter Ace 360 Flight Simulators, which roll, somersault, spin and loop at your control, and a decommissioned battleship, the USS Missouri, which was built after the Pearl Harbor attack.

The latter is a close-up look at a modern-day marvel of engineering. It was on the Surrender Deck that on September 2, 1945, at Tokyo Bay, the Japanese signed an agreement to end World War II in front of representatives from the US, China, the UK, Australia, France, Canada, the USSR, the Netherlands and New Zealand (our man was Air Vice-Marshal Sir Leonard Monk Isitt).

You can also see the damage inflicted when a kamikaze Japanese pilot dramatically attempted to crash his Zeke aircraft into the ship and failed, merely scraped the side. However, he lost his life in the attack and grey footprints mark spot of the military funeral at sea the Americans held in his honour, with his remains wrapped in a hastily sewn Japanese flag by one of the crew.

Give yourself a couple of hours to explore the Missouri - decommissioned in 1992 - there are guided tours and you can clamber up and down decks to see where the crewmen slept, ate, went to the dentist, where the bread was baked, the captain's cabin, the post office, the navigation bridge, the computer room with its 1980s machines and much more.

pearlharbor.org