Royal Hawaiian...

Today we took a trip down memory lane for Grandpa. We went to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. Grandpa spent some time there while he was here during the war. At the time, the Royal Hawaiian was the only hotel on the Waikiki beach front. The Navy took over the hotel whenever submarines were in port and their crew were allowed to stay there while on Liberty. Grandpa's ship was in a few different times when the hotel was being used by the Navy and got to spend the day there at the beach.

We looked around the hotel and had lunch at the beachfront restaurant. He said the inside of the hotel looked all different but the outside and the beach area looked exactly the same. Except for all the high rise hotels that now surround it.

Our waiter told us a story about when the Navy guys would stay at the hotel, the staff would lock up all the expensive china and decorations. I guess the guys had a tendency to get a little rowdy.

The weather was beautiful once again. I've heard the entire Midwest is getting pounded by snow and cold. Grandpa and I have been watching the weather channel keeping up with how much snow Iowa is getting.








More tomorrow....

Greg

Hit The Links

Sorry I didn't update on Sunday. We took it easy on Sunday, went the mass in the morning and then hung out at the house and watched football all day.

This morning, we hit the links. We went to the Mamala Bay golf course here on the Air Force Base and played nine holes. The course recently installed senior tee boxes so Grandpa played from them. He beat me by 3 strokes!! I tell you, he can still hit the ball straight. He also sported his brand new Hawaiian shirt.










After lunch, we drove out to Diamond head. We drove around the mountain and stopped at an overlook at a very popular surf spot.



We grilled up steaks for dinner and are now watching Monday night football. It's hard to believe his trip is almost over.

More tomorrow...

Greg

North Shore

Today we took a drive up to the north shore. The waves were big and the beaches were closed. But that didn't stop grandpa from venturing out onto the sand for a picture.




We continued along the north shore to Turtle Bay resort, which contains a PGA golf course designed by Arnold Palmer. I didn't have a spare $250 for a green fee so we just took a look around and snapped a few pictures.





This evening grandpa threw on his new Hawaiian shirt and we went downtown for dinner. We sat outside and had a pretty good sunset while we ate. We then went down into Waikiki and checked out all the street performers that come out at night time.



Tomorrow we're planning on watching the Vikings game and taking it easy. We've been going non stop for five days and I think he could use a break.

More tomorrow...

Greg

USS Arizona Memorial

Today we went to the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. I told grandpa to wear his VFW hat and I'm glad he agreed to do it. This was my fifth visit to the memorial and I know how much WWII veterans are welcomed and respected at this site. I knew that if he made himself known as a WWII veteran, he would get a lot of attention.

As soon as we arrived at the site, people spotted his VFW hat and came up, thanked him for his service and wanted to shake his hand. It was really great seeing perfect strangers, young and old, wanting to talk to him and hear his stories. There was a group of army cadets at the memorial today and each one of them shook his hand and chatted with him.

In between the conversations and stories, we walked through the small museum they have containing a lot of models and pictures from the attack.





Once through the museum, we boarded the shuttle boat and headed out to the memorial. Again he was greeted with respect and a few hugs. He spent some time chatting with the shuttle boat driver who was active duty navy. Grandpa comment on how much the navy uniform had changed since his time.









I'm not sure who had more fun today, grandpa or me. It was so much fun seeing him being treated like a rock star. At one point there was actually a small line forming with people who wanted to shake his hand and thank him for his service. It was a great site and I could tell he was really enjoying it.

After lunch, we hit the post office so he could mail out some post cards and then headed to the store so he could pick out a Hawaiian shirt. He found one he liked and said he'd be wearing it on the plane ride home...as well as on the golf course next summer.

More tomorrow,

Greg

Another Day in Paradise

This morning we slept in a bit, then after breakfast we went over to the west side of Pearl Harbor where they keep the mothballed ships. It's nicknamed the Ghost Fleet because the ships are gutted and when the trade winds whip through them, it makes a strange ghostly sound. We spent some time over there and he tried to figure out what type of ships they were. We're gonna take the pictures and try to research on the internet.






After lunch and a quick nap, the weather started to turn gloomy. So, we took a leisurely drive around the south and east sides of the island. We stopped off at a lot of scenic look outs and beaches. The waves were pretty good and we watched some surfers and body boarders riding some waves.





We spent some time looking at pictures that Grandpa bought along. They were pictures of his port calls in Japan and China once the war was over. And I spent some time showing him some of my pictures from when I was in Iraq.

We're going to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning we're heading over to the USS Arizona memorial. I have to say I'm really enjoying this routine. Sleep in till 8, nap after lunch, in bed by 9. I think I may adopt this routine for myself!!

More tomorrow...

Greg

Day 2...

Sorry for the late post, it was a busy day. In the morning we drove around the Air Force base and checked out the beach and marina area. Grandpa really liked how blue the water was. I snapped some pictures as he checked out some of the boats.






We then drove over to the Pearl Harbor entrance channel. I was hoping to see some ships going in or out of the harbor but today wasn't the day I guess. But we still got some pictures.






Then, after lunch and a short nap, we drove up to the Punchbowl national memorial cemetery. The punchbowl is located inside of a dormant volcano crater and is home to the national pacific military monument.

We ran into a man who recognized grandpa's naval amphibious forces insignia on his hat. The man was a retired navy Sea-bee. Him and grandpa chatted for a while and shared stories, it was pretty neat to sit back and watch.










As we passed by the murals of the different Pacific island campaigns, grandpa showed me the different beaches on each island he dropped troops off on. We spent about an hour looking at all the different mural maps.






After dinner a local skating group was putting on their holiday program. Part of the program included a tribute the past & present military members. Grandpa and I got dressed up in our uniforms and participated.




Over lunch, he told me a pretty funny story. Apparently, one of his buddies aboard ship found a monkey on one of the small islands they visited. He brought the monkey back on board ship and kept him in his quarters. He said the monkey would sit on the guys shoulder and if anyone got too close to the guy, the monkey would slap them.

He also told me about a time he was standing watch on the bridge and steering the ship. I guess the seas were pretty rough and they took a wave which knocked the boat sideways. A couple minutes later the ships cook stormed onto the bridge covered in banana cream pies demanding to know who the hell was steering the ship. I guess the wave tipped over a shelf which contained freshly made cream pies and dumped the pies all over the chef. The Captain told him to suck it up and go back to work.

Anyway, it was a full day and we're probably going to take it easy tomorrow.

More tomorrow...

Greg

Day 1 In the Books...

After this morning, Grandpa took a small nap. Then this afternoon we had to go pick up Ethel from work downtown. We left the house early and drove down through Waikiki. He could not believe all the huge buildings. We drove past the beaches and he said he really didn't recognize anything. That is until we pulled up in front of the Royal Hawaiian hotel. Sixty or so years ago when he was last here, the Royal Hawaiian was the only beach front hotel in Waikiki. During his day, the Navy would rent out the entire hotel for sailors on liberty. He spent some time there back in the 40s when he was here. Thanks to restoration efforts, it looks almost exactly the same today as it did 60 years ago, right down to the pink paint. Once we pulled up to the front of that place, his eyes lit up and he said, "oh wow, now I recognize something". Even the old small balconies off the rooms were restored and he commented on how he remembered standing on one of those. We didn't have time to go inside or anything. We're going to go back on Saturday and take a tour of the place. He seemed to enjoy seeing it though.

After burgers on the grill and a little TV, he's down for the count. Day one is in the books.

More tomorrow...

Greg

Ford Island

This morning we drove over to Pearl Harbor/Ford Island and checked out the USS Oklahoma memorial....










After that we went over to the wreck of the USS Utah which is still sitting where it fell when the Japanese attacked.







The trip brought out a few storied I had never heard before. He told me about how he was in charge of the shop on board his ship that made all the canvas covers for their smaller boats they had on board. Once he took over that shop, he convinced the Chief to let him sleep down there instead of up in the normal berthing with the rest of the enlisted guys. So, he pretty much had his own room! He had to hide his cot every morning so the Captain wouldn't know he had his own room. He said he hosted poker games every Tuesday night and talked one of the ships chefs into bringing fresh steaks.

He asked the Chief if he could move out some of the empty shelves so he had more living space in there and the Chief told him no, any changes made to the ships configuration had to be run through the Captain, but if they "disappeared", nobody would probably know. So, he said every night he would take a few shelves up on deck and throw them overboard. Pretty soon, he had a nice big room!!

He also told me about a time they pulled into Guam and had to do a mail run to the base post office. He took his boat in with a few guys and walked the 4 blocks to the post office. There were so many bags of mail they had to end up dragging a couple of the bags. I guess the ship's Captain saw them and gave them a hard time for dragging the mail bags. Grandpa said he told the Captain that this would be much easier if the ship had a jeep to run around in.

Later that night, he was standing watch on the bridge and saw an army Jeep being hoisted over the side and onto the deck. Apparently the Captain had ordered some of the guys to appropriate a jeep for the ship. So, they stole one from the Army and once on board, quickly repainted it blue and put Navy numbers on it. So, mail runs were much easier after that!

Just thought I'd share those stories. I sure enjoy them.

More later,

Greg

Ready to Go...

I thought he might want to take it easy today but it's 9am and he told me he's ready to go. So we're off to Ford Island to see a few of the memorials..

More later,

Greg

Landed

Grandpa arrived after a long flight and was in great spirits. He got a traditional Hawaiian flower lei once I met him at the baggage claim. I brought him back to the house and we fired up the BBQ & had a beer. The travel caught up to him and he was in bed early. But not before sharing a few stories about the last time he was here.



More tomorrow...

Greg

On his way...

Hello Everyone. I thought since a lot of people worked to get Grandpa George out here to Hawaii, I would try and keep everyone updated on what he was up to over the next 10 days. So I created this blog so everyone can check up on how things are going out here. I got word that he is in the air and on his way.

I'll post later on today and let everyone know is flight was. I'm sure he'll be pretty jet lagged and tired when he arrives so there will probably not be too much excitement today.

Bye for now...

Greg