Ford Island

For those that haven't been there yet, what is and what do you do?

We're the nonprofit that operates the museum on Ford Island in the historical hangars, 37 and 79.

We have dozens of aircraft, historical aircraft, including all three types of aircraft that perpetrated the attack on December 7th, 1941.

And we're really proud to be that entity that is charged with maintaining America's World War II aviation battleground.

64 years in the mud, and they were still there, that's the detail that stops me every time I think about this story.

The aircraft was brought out of the swamp and eventually made its way to the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor, on Ford Island.

The same island where so much of the Pacific War began on December 7th, 1941.

The same morning when B-17s from the mainland were actually arriving at Hickam Field and flew right into the middle of the Japanese attack, some of them landing under fire.

Some aircraft should fly again.

Some aircraft should stay exactly as they are, and make you stand still and think.

If you find yourself in Hawaii, the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island is not optional.

The Swamp Ghost is there, so is a Curtiss, P-40 Warhawk, a Mitsubishi Zero, and Hangar 7, where you can still see bullet holes in the concrete from the December 7 attack.

And, you know, our original intent was that we wanted to live on-base, but we couldn't because everyone was staying there because of, of COVID.

But as folks started trickling out, we got a call and we're like, "Hey, we have a house that's available to you on historic Ford Island in one of the, you know, few houses that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor." And we were like, "How freaking cool," right? Like, to be-- to raise our family in this living piece of history as part of the historic trail.

Our ho- our house sat, you know, direct waterfront view of the USS Utah, um, which still, you know, kind of peeks out of the, out of the water there, and how cool.

The part that sucked, though, is, you know, the military always does your moves for you.

So what we, um-- It, it was over time, so based on like where you lived is how quickly you were impacted by the water contamination.

So our family was severely impacted, um, on like the tenth of December.

So it took some time to get to us on Ford Island.

We ended up in the hospital.

A bell tolled to remember the 343 New York firefighters who died at the World Trade Center.

On Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, a display of hundreds of boots commemorating those who went to war after 9/11, with about 100 new pairs of boots added every year.

The 9/11 is actually the attack that happened, and this display is our 9/12.

New first responders were either not born yet or were too young to remember the events of 22 years ago.