Williston High School U.S. History teachers, Jennifer Heth and Kari Hall, relaxed on Waikiki Beach during their freetime at the 'Landmarks in U.S. History' workshop in Hawaii. The two teachers visited Pearl Harbor attack sites to learn more about World War II in the Pacific Theater so they could bring their knowledge back to their classrooms.
"It got to me that you see all the attack sites and all you have to do is swing your eyes and you're in paradise," said Hall.
Hall and Heth were selected to attend the Landmarks in American History workshop 'Remembering Pearl Harbor: History, Memory and Memorial' in Honolulu. The workshops were funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Asian Pacific East-West Center and co-sponsored by the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, the National Park Service and veterans of the war.
Hall and Heth were among 100 teachers selected from 300 applicants from across the country.
"We didn't think we'd both get in," said Hall. The two were the only teachers from North Dakota attending; in fact, no other teachers in South Dakota, Wyoming or Montana were there. Earlier in the summer, Hall and Heth were given reading "homework" of articles, books and Web sites to prepare themselves for the reality of visiting historical Pearl Harbor sites.
"It was the best experience I could have as a U.S. history teacher - to go to the place," said Heth. "I can make it much more real for my students having been there myself."
The island of Oahu, where Hawaii's capital city Honolulu and Pearl Harbor are located, is barely 600 square miles or less than one-third the size of Williams County.
On the first day, the two visited the U.S.S. Bowfin, a restored submarine that was commissioned as the "Pearl Harbor avenger" on the one-year anniversary of the attack. The two attended an evening reception where Hall met a native who said her husband was 10 when the attack took place.
"He saw the Japanese planes flying overhead and he waved and they waved back," said Hall. "They thought it was just the Navy doing maneuvers."
The next day the workshop focused on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. The U.S.S. Arizona sank nine minutes after being hit by a bomb from the air. Because the battleship was preparing to head out to sea, it contained oil and gunpowder in its magazine creating a huge explosion. The ship was a total loss with all 1,177 men losing their lives.
Today 900 men remain entombed inside the ship, which has never been removed from the ocean. Twelve of the men who died in the Arizona were from North Dakota.
The ship continues to leak oil every 20 to 30 seconds, which some say is the tears of the ship, said Hall. "It's remembering," said Heth, who explained that the oil is somewhat of a legend. "When the last Pearl Harbor survivor dies, (supposedly) the ship will stop leaking oil."
The group also received special access to visit military bases struck by the attack that the general public normally doesn't get to see. At a tour of Hickam Air Force Base, formerly of the Army Air Corps, Hall and Heth could pull images of Hickam Field from their memory of Ben Affleck's Pearl Harbor movie because it was filmed on location.
Hall and Heth had the privilege to meet Everett Highland during lunch at Hickam's Officer's Club, said Heth. Highland was stationed on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock at the time of the attack.
Though Highland normally wasn't on deck, he volunteered for antenna duty that day. Highland's injuries included: wrist, elbow, hip, knee, thigh and ankle injuries - all deemed superficial compared to his burns which amounted to 80 percent of his body, said Heth. At this time, a navy uniform consisted of shorts and a T-shirt, leaving the skin more vulnerable to injury.
Highland, who is missing about two weeks of his memory, was rescued by his brother, who told him part of the story. His brother was killed at Iwo Jima, however, so he never heard an account of the rest of the events of the day.
Years later at a speaking engagement, Highland met the navy nurse who treated him. She was able to fill in some history he couldn't remember and inform him of how severe his situation was.
"We just heard amazing stories like that," said Heth.
Other sites on Oahu that were hit include Wheeler Airfield and Schofield Barracks, both of which are still in use. The 25th Army Infantry, which is normally stationed at Schofield, is now deployed in Iraq so the barracks are basically empty, said Hall.
Pearl Harbor Naval Air Station, located on Ford Island, contains the somewhat forgotten U.S.S. Utah Memorial. Because of its location on a military reservation, tourists have limited access and the battleship never gets talked about, said Hall.
The U.S.S. Utah was beached on her side on the west side of Ford Island; 58 men are still on board. While Heth and Hall were there reading the plaques, a brand-new hydrofoil, stealth ship from the naval station brought a modern touch to the historical memorial.
The two also visited Punch Bowl National Cemetery of the Pacific, located in a crater in the middle of Honolulu. Those who died in the Pearl Harbor attack as well as veterans of the war in the Pacific are buried here.
Aside from seeing history on location, Heth and Hall had the opportunity to hear many expert historians from renowned universities like the University of Tokyo, Stanford University and George Mason University. Topics included the Japanese quests in the Pacific, the Japanese motive in the Pearl Harbor attacks and the bigger picture of the attack.
Heth and Hall also got to participate in the critique of a new DVD-ROM that contains pictures and clips to aid teachers in the classroom.
A lecture on the movies versus reality interested Heth, who would like to use some of the material in her classes. Movies discussed included Tora! Tora! Tora!, which came out in 1970, and Pearl Harbor, a 2001 film starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett.
Heth would love to use a documentary video on the Pearl Harbor movie put out by National Geographic with commentary by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. Basically, most of the movie is unrealistic, except for the fact that the movie was filmed on location, said Heth.
In their free time, Heth and Hall swam at Waikiki beach, bartered with vendors at the International market, climbed Diamond Head, visited Iolani Palace, the home of the last reigning monarchs of Hawaii, and attended a luau where they made their own leis, ate roast pig and watched the Paradise Cove dancers.
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