On a quiet Sunday morning December 7, 1941 a Japanese surprise air attack left the Pacific Fleet in smoldering heaps of broken, twisted steel. Here, peace was interrupted and paradise lost. In hours, 2,390 futures were stolen, half of these casualties from the battleship Arizona. Behind the shadows of destroyed airfields, aircraft, and ships, America fought fear, and a determined enemy responding with an unrivaled war effort. An epic battle for democratic ideals and world freedom would bloody the fields of Europe and the islands of the Pacific over the next four years. The USS Arizona Memorial as a national shrine symbolizes American sacrifice and resolve. Through national tragedy, a “sleeping giant awoke” and the United States moved towards its destiny as a global power.

The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail is a 175-mile trail corridor full of cultural and historical significance. It traverses through hundreds of ancient Hawaiian settlement sites and through over 200 ahupua'a, or traditional sea to mountain land divisions. Cultural resources along the trail include several important heiau (temples), royal centers, kahua (house site foundations), loko 'ia (fishponds) ko`a (fishing shrines), ki‘i pohaku (petroglyphs), holua (stone slide), and wahi pana (sacred places). Natural Resources include anchialine ponds, pali (precipices), nearshore reefs, estuarine ecosystems, coastal vegetation, migratory birds, native sea turtle habitat, and several threatened and endangered endemic species of plants and animals.

Explore the Battleship Missouri with a variety of guided and independent tours. Located on Oahu.