Our second full day we spent at Pearl Harbor. I had purchased tickets in advance and gotten us the audio tour. I highly recommend both. There is a very nice museum, a movie and then you take a boat out to USS Arizona memorial.
View of memorial from land
When you get off the boat this is what you see
I found that both the museum and movie were extremely well done. We ended up spending hours here. The security is very tight and you are not allowed any kind of bag (not even a purse). I've never been somewhere that is that tight on security.
Gun turret #3 from USS Arizona
There are only a few spots that are above the water line. The rest is still laying beneath the water.
The ship is still leaking oil
These are all the men who lost their life on the USS Arizona
I had a great uncle who was at Pearl Harbor on December 7. His ship was not hit but it took several days before my mom's family heard if he was ok. They have a list of all the ships that were in port and a big map so I could point out to my mom where he was. It really helped understand that day better.
My relative was on the Patterson
The memorial area also has two other ships that are privately maintained that you can tour. The USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin are both there. We chose not to do either of them as we had to make our last shuttle back to the hotel.
If you are in Honolulu, I highly recommend going to this historic site.
I have heard that it is a good place to visit when in Hawaii. Lots of history there. I'm sure for someone like your mom since she had a relative there, it would truly open up lots of memories from around that time, etc. Glad you were able to help put things into perspective for her with that map you found about where the ships were positioned, etc.
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