[exnavy]

I would love to see Her in person, sacred ground for us squids. I was sixth fleet, Mediterranean.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Army Brat.
1951-1961, Japan.

After the Arizona memorial, we went over to the Missouri and took that tour. This BB had just come out of the paint shop and looked like a million bucks, or several million.

We stood where MacArthur took the Japanese surrender and walked through the interior of the ship. The galley featured the Missouri dinnerware, set out as if the Captain and officers were five minutes away from chow.

The bridge was a curious mix of 1940s primitive and 1980s missile components. This BB was one of the battleships briefly brought back to action by the Gipper during his presidency.

BTW;
Someone on this discussion mentioned the large number of Japanese touring the Arizona (and everywhere else in Hawaii.) I asked one of the young ladies on the Navy boat why they wanted to see the memorial and she said she and her friends wanted to see close up what their Oji-san grandfathers had done; they couldn’t believe it really happened.
The usually chatty Japanese were silent while inside the memorial...

[Know et al]

I saw the Arizona memorial in 1968 when I did a west-pac on the USS Bennington. I did the rail watch and I could see the memorial from the flight deck.

It is a very moving experience.