A place of reconciliation
The USS Oklahoma and USS Utah memorials are located on Ford Island, an active naval base. To visit the USS Oklahoma Memorial if you do not have a valid active duty military ID, you can visit for free via the battleship Missouri shuttle, located to the right of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum entrance. If you have purchased a separate ticket to the battleship Missouri, this shuttle pass is included in the price of your ticket.
Visiting Pearl Harbor
Some things to know about memorials.
USS Arizona Memorial and Museum: Tours often sell out before noon. There is no fee to visit the memorial.
Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum: Featuring details of life in a World War II submarine. Tickets range in price.
USS Missouri: Visitors can tour the battleship where World War II formally ended and see many other exhibits. Tickets range in price.
Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: Historical aircraft from World War II are housed in hangars that stood during the attack in 1941. Tickets range in price. In 1987, a small group of Japanese men visited Pearl Harbor unannounced. After the men quietly paid their respects at the USS Arizona Memorial, the park staff were stunned to learn the truth: The men had been pilots in the Imperial Japanese Navy and had flown sorties on Dec. 7, 1941, bombing and strafing military installations and naval vessels on Oahu. They had come to pray for all the men and women lost that day, American and Japanese.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush visited Pearl Harbor, where he famously declared, during a speech given for the 50th anniversary of the attacks, “I have no rancor in my heart toward Germany or Japan — none at all.”
President Barack Obama visited the Hiroshima atomic bombing memorial in May 2016.
In December 2016, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Pearl Harbor, where he paid his respects at the USS Arizona Memorial and also toured the monument's other exhibits and hallowed grounds.