[Private_collector]

Good morning, and greetings from Honolulu, on the morning of December 7th, the seventy first anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

We arrived here early on December 2nd, local time, and have been touring Oahu and also the island of Hawai'i, known simply as "The 'Big' Island". The morning we checked into our hotel I met a gentleman in the hotel elevator who is one of the dwindling ranks of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. He is a tour volunteer at Pearl Harbor, and will be here doing that for the next month. Such a delightfully friendly old chap whose name eludes me for the moment. I see this fellow most days and hope to get his photograph (and name again) soon. Because I am using the 'tablet' device, I dont have easy way of uploading photos to MLU unless they are taken with phone, which is considerably lower quality than the camera I am carrying.

It was my desire to attend the commemorations at Pearl Harbor this morning, but now know it is to be a closed program for veterans, families of deceased veterans and of course dignitaries. This afternoon, Pearl Harbor is once again open to the public, and I plan to visis then. I may even see my newly acquired friend then.

This evening at 1800hrs there will be a large parade through Waikiki, which leaves Fort Derussy, heading eastward through Wakiki in direction of Honolulu Zoo. From the list of parade participants it seems to be more of a social event as opposed to a historical commemoration, but time will tell if this is indeed the case. Obviously I will watch the parade and take copious photos. I will also carry my phone, to take a few photos for MLU posting. You may recall I posted one photo of my Sons graduation evening some time ago now, and that was primarily to see if phone photos were sufficiently small enough not to choke while uploading to MLU.

At time of finishing this post, it is approaching 7:55am, the exact time hell broke loose at Pearl Harbor. I am dissapointed to report that a scan through local television channels has proven fruitless for any coverage of the ceremony which is either in progress or about to commence. In fact, a number of the locals had forgotten the signifigance of today. Not all that is, but some.

Lest We Forget.