Hawaii Mega-Post!

Well, I am leading quite the charmed life. In December, I was lucky enough to meet my parents and Grandpa ("Pop" or "Chief" to you) in Hawaii for a week. We went to observe the 65th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. (Small sidenote: I figured it wouldn't be prudent to mention the real reason for my visit to my, ahem, Japanese students, so I just said I went for a vacation. And the potentially awkward situation was recently reversed, as last week I went to Hiroshima. Sorry about that A-Bomb, Japan, but technically you started it!) As many of you know, Pop is a Pearl Harbor Survivor. He was a 20 year old Marine stationed on Ford Island when the Japanese launched their sneak attack on the early morning of December 7th, 1941. Obviously, this event was life-changing, and although Pop wasn't physically injured, the emotional toll of this day has stayed with him for 65 years. He has made it a habit to attend many of the reunions in the past, and although he has been kind of sick lately (he doesn't seem to 'get' that low-sodium diets mean NO HAM. BACON TOO, POP) he was determined to attend the 65th anniversary. Not only did he make it, he was in fine form! Some highlights....when we went to breakfast on the first day (a buffet) he watched an older gentleman be helped to his chair by the waiter. The waiter had to hold the guys plate while the guy manuevered some stairs and Pop was very scornful of this. He was like, "That guy is OLD." Granted, this guy WAS so old he was like a fried egg away from keeling over completely, but my Grandpa is so old he sat behind Jesus in the second grade. People in glass houses, Pop! Later, he tried to tell me a dirty joke and about keeled over himself because he was laughing so hard. He couldn't even get the punchline out, he said "boner" and burst out laughing. Yes, thats right, you haven't lived till you've heard your 85 year old oxygen-wearing patriarch say a word best suited for a high school locker room. Finally, later that week we were driving when some guy cut off my Dad. There was a lot of muttering from the front seat over the jerk, when Pop piped up, "When someone drives like that, you just gotta say to 'em, 'Buck You, Fuddy, you're not so mucking fuch'.....they won't ever know what you mean!" That sentence just fills me with so much delight I just have to see it again: "When someone drives like that, you just gotta say to 'em, 'Buck You, Fuddy, you're not so mucking fuch'.....they won't ever know what you mean!" Price.Less.

Anyway, back to the reason for the visit. This December was very special indeed, as the 65th reunion of Pearl Harbor Survivors is likely to be last. My Grandpa was only 20 when it happened but is 85 now, and as time goes on there are fewer and fewer Survivors alive and well enough to travel to attend the events. The general consensus is that (unfortunately) there won't be enough available for the 70th anniversary. So this year was a blow-out indeed. Tom Brokaw spoke, and there were a gratifying number of Survivors available to attend the festivities. I did a separate post on the actual ceremony, so let me talk a little bit about Hawaii. I. LOVE. HAWAII. What a beautiful place. I feel really lucky to be able to spend time with my parents and Gramps in such a great environment. We did so much, from general sightseeing to going to the beach (well, not the Chief) to seeing the old house where we used to live. Plus, I got to eat steak! Good steak, too. It was a nice change from the steady diet of rice, fish, and beer I have been indulging in over here. Finally, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, it truly felt like paradise. When I left, I was really sad leaving my parents, and tears were shed. As the plane taxied down the runway at Honolulu Airport, I looked out and saw the beautiful beach passing me by. More tears were shed. Finally, when I arrived back at Narita Airport in Tokyo, I turned on my cell phone and discovered I had received five text messages. All five said the same thing: "It's snowing! Yay!" No, no yay! I started crying again! I didn't want to go back to the cold at all! However, all good things must come to an end, and I have some great memories of our trip!
Pop is happy to see me! And vice versa.
The view from our hotel room.
The Chief!
The Chief makes friends wherever he goes...
...and also attracts quite the crowd.


Our old house!
Just like old times...
Dad tried to Underdog me and failed! Underdog gone wrong!
My drinking buddy.
The Chief with some new friends. Check out that outfit!
Dad and the Chief getting into some trouble on the main drag in Honolulu. (Funny side note, all the signs were in English and Katakana. It was like Japan with better weather!)
We also went to a luau. He mugs for every picture!
Pulling the pig....
Yum!
Now thats a plate of food!

Finally, I will leave you with some gorgeous scenery shots. Can you see how hard it was to leave?!

December 7th

You can see the Arizona Memorial through the life preserver. (Artistic Erin took this shot).


The Chief! The one and only.


This was the U.S.S. Russell. All of the sailors stood at attention along the edge of the ship as it sailed pass. This was definitely a very emotional beginning to the ceremony.


This is when they asked the Survivors to stand up. There were actually quite a few who were able to make it to the ceremony. I think they said about 500 or so.

This guy just killed me. The whole morning was an exercise in trying not to cry.


The laid wreaths for all the ships hit during that morning. Each wreath was laid by a survivor from that ship.

After the ceremony. There were Hawaiian shirts and leis as far as the eye could see! Kind of a colorful contrast to the solemn occasion.

After the ceremony. This is a funny picture. This was standing in line for the bathroom! Obviously as nice as the ceremony was, someone forgot these are old dudes, most of whom need to go to the bathroom every 16.7 seconds. So ole Pop was waiting in line for the bathroom when Old Man Winter on the right (in the blue shirt) got a little agressive. I guess he really had to go and Pop was convinced he was going to try and cut him in line. Pop had to about throw down. He got up out of his wheelchair in order to assert his proper place in line. It was pretty hardcore for awhile but also nice to see the ole fightin' spirit. It was like, "Guys! Guys! We're all on the same side here! Fight the real enemy!"

Also, I wanted to say I was really, really impressed with how well my Grandpa and other Survivors were treated during their time in Hawaii. As you can see from the pics, Chief was never without his "Pearl Harbor Survivors" hat, and people really responded to it. We had people come up to him while we were stopped at traffic lights in order to shake his hand, and young soldiers followed him out of restaurants to talk to him. When we went to the Arizona Memorial, an entire family asked to have their picture taken with him. Obviously the old guy is a pretty gregarious fellow, but from what I saw, every Survivor was treared as well (and they were all wearing those damn hats). Everyone was really respectful to the Survivors and spent a lot of time listening to, basically, history being passed down by these guys. It was really gratifying to see that other people, even strangers, appreciate my Grandpa as much as I do. I know it also made the Survivors feel really good to know that everythis they did that day was not in vain and is remembered even today. Also, the people at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard did a very good job getting a LOT of people through security and onto the base in a timely fashion. It was almost military in precision. Haha.