“Remember Pearl Harbor” or more appropriately “Remember Pearl Harbor – Keep America Alert – Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty,” is the motto of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, an organization whose members were at or in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. In the past, visitors came from all over the world see the site of that surprise attack, but not all got in. Now, the National Park Service (NPS) has made the landmark attraction easier to visit.
In the past, visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial came to the NPS site in Hawaii with their fingers crossed, hoping to get in. For those traveling to Hawaii on a limited time schedule, the first-come-first-served policy ended with them being turned away.
Tours run every 15 minutes and each holds a maximum of 150 people, limiting the number of visitors in a day. Now, the park service has a new reservation program for individuals and groups visiting Pearl Harbor that allows advance, online reservations.
“For almost 32 years, tours to the USS Arizona Memorial have been offered on a first-come-first-served basis,” says Paul DePrey, Superintendent, for WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument on the NPS web site. “This new service will enhance the visitor experience by giving individuals and groups the option to make advance reservations for their visit to Pearl Harbor Historic Sites.”Now available online is the official USS Arizona Memorial audio tour and the new Passport to Pearl Harbor package. Included in the package is general admission to the Pacific Aviation Museum, the USS Bowfin and the USS Missouri. Admission is $30 and reservations can be made up to 90 days in advance with a non-refundable reservation fee of $1.50 per ticket
The NPS will continue to provide tickets on a first-come-first-served basis throughout the day for those that do not have reservations.
[Flickr photo by expertinfantry]