Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Hawaii, United States

5Sightseer779040 5:00 PM Nov 11, 2022

Great exhibits, learned a lot!
We arrived here at 4pm while they were closing at 5pm. There are two connected free parking lots. Admission is free, and there is a security guard to make sure you are not bringing in any bags. I had a wristlet small clutch the size of my phone and that was perfectly fine. He was happy to let us in and said we have plenty of time to walk around. We turned left when you walked in to see the exhibits. The first exhibit was about life in the 1940’s and the culture in that time frame and what was leading up to the war, and the different aspects of the militaries of Japan and the U.S. It was interesting. Then they had the second exhibit to walk through. This was the most fascinating and I learned so much! In the middle of the exhibit there is an informational video that I highly recommend watching. It had history channel vibes, but it had so much info that I never knew before. It was very harrowing. After the second exhibit, we walked the path along the water and read the informational signs. Right as we got to the end, it was 5 pm so the security guards were walking behind us to make sure we made our way to the exit. So we were able to breeze through here in about an hour. We will definitely be returning to go to the U.S.S. Arizona, check out the gift shop, and to do the audio tour and take our time. We would also like to check out the submarine museum and the aviation museum next time, as we had just come from the U.S.S. Missouri museum. So there is plenty to do here, or if you just want a taste, you can breeze through in about an hour. If you are interested in the history of the area, I would highly recommend.

5rleNewEngland 5:00 PM Nov 15, 2022

Every American should visit this site.
As others have written it does take a bit of planning to visit. A few minutes of reading through the National Park Service website will make it less stressful. We procured our free ($1 per person fee) visitors tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial 8 weeks in advance via the NPS website. Which meant skip-the-line access to the ferry and memorial. If you arrive without a ticket your wait might be 45 to 90 minutes. Also, no purses, knapsacks, etc. allowed unless they are clear. We arrived about an hour prior to our 10 am ticket and spent the time walking around the grounds with the audio guide. Of course, the memorial is somber and hallowed. We also spent a few more minutes after the memorial in the exhibit galleries.