12-19-15
Right from the horses mouths (excerpts):
When we first got to Pearl Harbor, when we were first going through the channel, I remember that you could see oil bubbling up, and it looked like smoke here and there. We were tied up next to the Arizona, and you could look down and see it lying there. Bob Knight
When we first arrived, it was hard to believe that two years had passed since the December 7th Attack. The Arizona was ghastly looking and some of the other ships were still half sunk. George Pitts
LIBERTY
For liberty we went out to Waikiki. We went swimming a lot. We’d go out with a bunch of guys, but I never did tangle up with the women too much. I had a girlfriend back home, and it just wasn’t my thing. I know some of the guys, the first thing they did when they got off the ship – they all headed down to line up on Front St, I think it was, in Honolulu. That’s where the prostitutes were. They couldn’t wait to get to get down there. For some guys, it was the first stop. Bob Knight
Well, of course, there were the cathouses — two dollars a pop. The lines! Guys would line up from the ‘registration desk’ all the way down the stairs and out onto the sidewalks below. Pat Fedele
Pearl Harbor was positively a Liberty Town. It was a sailor’s haven. Barrooms were everywhere. Tattoo parlors everywhere. Club dancers everywhere. You could get a milkshake… they had ice cream, movies. You could go horseback riding, which I did one day. That was a mistake because I never knew anything about horses, and this horse knew that I didn’t know anything and he ran all over the place and I’m just holding on. What did he do? He ended up running right back where he came from. He got rid of me! George Pitts
A lot of time was spent on the beach swimming; especially at Waikiki Beach. We also went to Diamond Head. About halfway up, there’s a place on the road where the current used to shoot up a geyser of water in between the rocks. The pressure was so strong that the water would shoot up and soak you where you stood. It’s just like the geysers at Yellowstone. It was spectacular!
As I said, we got a chance to see and do everything, but once we got on that ship, that was it. All done. No more fun. Pat Fedele