World War II in the Pacific (8 Days) 

     Our program will begin this afternoon at 5:00 at our hotel with an education session by our historian.

The Gathering Storm:
Japanese Agression in China and Indo-China “Divine Right” to Conquer

Ever since 1904, when the Japanese Navy annihilated the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War, the U.S. Navy knew that Japan was
our biggest threat in the Pacific. The Navy’s War Plan “Orange,” drafted in 1911, became the strategic blueprint for a war against Japan.

But while our Navy recognized the Japanese threat, it was not able to take the necessary steps to oppose it. The U.S. Congress refused
to allocate the funds. The American public was extremely isolationist.

American diplomacy made our situation worse by agreeing to a naval treaty with Japan in 1922 that gave the Japanese a clear advantage.

At the same time, Japan fell increasingly under the influence of right wing extremists who were roughly similar to Germany’s Nazis.
Lacking natural resources itself, Japan believed it had a “divine right to conquer” neighboring countries to form, under Japanese rule,
a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. The 1937 Rape of Nanking by Japanese troops was a precursor of later atrocities to follow. Japan
renounced the 1922 naval agreement in 1936 to begin a large scale naval buildup. By 1941, Japan had twice as many warships in the
Pacific as the U.S., the Netherlands, and Britain combined. Japan then invaded French Indo-China (today’s Vietnam.)

In 1940 Japan concluded a Tripartite “Axis” Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Our education session will cover the pre-war period in the Pacific and the American response to these events.

There will be a get acquainted reception (cash bar) at 6:15, followed by dinner at 7:00.

     Morning Education Session, 8:00 AM

To understand World War II in the Pacific, we must understand the aircraft carrier and the central role of the fast carrier task force in attacking the Japanese across the Pacific. Our education session will focus on the aircraft carrier and the decisive Battle of Midway, where our carrier based dive bombers sunk four Japanese carriers and a cruiser. We lost the carrier Yorktown and a destoyer. The opposing fleets never came into sight of each other.

After our education session, we will travel across San Francisco Bay to Alameda, where we will visit this historic ship and learn about the USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier.

Next, we will proceed to San Francisco Airport to board our flight to Honolulu. Dinner will be served in flight.

We will be met at Honolulu Airport and transferred to the Marriott Waikiki Beach, our home for six nights.

     This morning we will retrace the events of December , 1941. Our first stop will be at Pearl Harbor, where we will board a navy boat and visit the Memorial over the sunken USS Arizona. Our guide will point out the location of the ships that were tied up along Battleship Row, and the three directions from which the Japanese planes attacked. Along with Gettysburg, Appomattox, and Omaha Beach, Pearl Harbor is an unforgettable experience.

Our airfields also came under heavy attack. We will visit Wheeler Air Force Base, which was our major air base in the Pacific. Our guide will show us where aircraft, hangars, and buildings were destroyed. He will relate the stories of the few American pilots who were able to get airborne and oppose the Japanese aircraft.

U.S. Army headquarters were at Schofield Barracks, made famous after the war in the James Jones book and movie, “From Here to Eternity.” We will visit Schofield and its Museum of the 25th Infantry Division, which fought at Guadalcanal and the Phillippines.

After lunch (not included) at the Officers Club at Fort Shafter, we will visit U.S. Army Pacific Headquarters, known as the “Pineapple Pentagon.” An army representative will greet us and answer our (unclassified) questions. Our tour will end at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punch Bowl.

Afternoon Education Session, 5:00 PM

Our education session will reflect on the attack of December 7, 1941, and why we were caught asleep. There were four separate investigations into
the issue of our unpreparedness; yet the question of responsibility is still debated today. We’ll discuss the conduct of our commanders at Pearl Harbor —
Admiral Kimmel and General Short — and of President Roosevelt and our top officials in Washington.

Perhaps the most crucial lesson of Pearl Harbor — along with September 11, 2001 — is to remember always the warning of Sophocles, some 2,400 years ago. Never assume that “It cannot happen here.”

     Morning Education Session, 8:00 AM
Hell on Earth for the Navy and Marines
Guadalcanal and Its Battles
Triphibious Warfare

Although the Battle of Midway is usually considered the turning point of the Pacific War, the Japanese forces remained on the offensive after Midway. It was at Guadalcanal, the first American offensive of the war, that the Japanese advance was stopped and the Americans gained the initiative.

Guadalcanal was a six month campaign of numerous land battles, almost daily battles in the air, and seven major naval engagements. No campaign in World War II in any region saw such sustained combat—on land, on the sea, and in the air — where the outcome remained uncertain for so long.

Our education session will cover this epic struggle, and its combination of land, sea, and air combat, called by Winston Churchill “triphibious warfare.” This three dimensional combat was to serve as a model for subsequent battles across the Pacific.

Day at Leisure: GOLF in Hawaii is world class. Our hotel will assist golfers to arrange tee times at Ko’olau Golf Club.

Ko’olau Golf Club is one of the most inspiring experiences that a golfer will ever play. It offers breathtaking
views of majestic cliffs, cascading waterfalls, and the Pacific Ocean. Set on the beautiful windward side
of Oahu, Ko’olau’s natural setting encompasses over 280 acres of spectacular terrain. Golf Digest has
named Ko’olau as one of the top two courses in Hawaii.

Nature lovers can follow the more than 600,000 persons each year who make the two hour hike to the
top of Diamond Head. Guided hikes are offered; the view from the summit of Oahu and the Pacific Ocean
is breathtaking.

Experience the perfect balance of mood, body, and soul at the Spa Olakino Salon inside the
Waikiki Marriott Resort. The Spa embraces the concept of Olakino, a state of well being and health.

Enjoy total relaxation in the soothing environment of this luxury Spa. Enjoy the sun, sand and surf at the beach and Pacific Ocean.

Afternoon Education Session, 5:00 PM
American Leadership
Douglas MacArthur - American Ceaser
The Leap Frog Campaign

Our education session will focus on MacArthur’s role in World War II — his failures in the Philippines during 1941-42, his brilliant leap frog campaign against the Japanese in New Guinea, and his triumphant return to the Philippines in 1944. At the signing of the Japanese surrender, September 2, 1945 on the Battleship Missouri, MacArthur became absolute ruler of 83 million Japanese.

     There were many warnings about a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The first came as early as 1924 from General Billy Mitchell. This controversial advocate and prophet of air power predicted that an attack would begin at 7:30 AM. He was wrong by 25 minutes.

The final warning came at 07:10 on December 7 from two army privates, who first tracked the Japanese planes at 07:02 on the radar scope at the radar site at Opana at the northern tip of Oahu. Their warning was ignored by the duty officer at Fort Shafter, who thought that the incoming aircraft on the radar screen were American B-17s scheduled to arrive from California at 08:00.

We will visit the site of the radar station, now a National Historic Landmark, and read the detailed description of that terrible mistake.

The drive along the north shore is beautiful. With the Ko’olau Mountain Range to the West and the Pacific to the East, we’ll pass through small villages and towns, farms and cattle ranches, and some of the finest beaches in Hawaii. This is the “real Hawaii.”

     Morning Education Session, 8:00 AM
Which Way to Tokyo? MacArthur vs. Nimitz
Leyte Gulf — Largest Naval Battle in History

Leyte Gulf, composed of four separate engagements, was the largest naval battle of all time. More American sailors fought here than had been in the entire Navy and Marine Corps in 1938.

No ships in history ever went into harm’s way faster and with better seamanship than the American destroyers who fought at the battle of Samar, Leyte Gulf. Admiral Halsey had made a grievous mistake, taking his ships north, away from Leyte Gulf, to chase a Japanese decoy squadron. Halsey’s blunder enabled Japanese battleships and cruisers to advance unopposed through the San Bernardino Strait and attack the unprotected transports at the Leyte beachhead, MacArthur’s troops ashore, and the baby carriers of Admiral Kinkaid. Seven American destroyers were sent to keep the Japanese battleships and cruisers away from MacArthur’s vulnerable landing site and the baby carriers. In an extraordinary display of courage and seamanship the attacking U.S. destroyers caused the Japanese battleships and cruisers to withdraw. Three destroyers were sunk; one was severely damaged. The battle has been called “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.” The USS Hoel took more than 40 hits.In testimony valid for all of these brave destroyers, Hoel skipper, Cdr. Leon S. Kintberger, wrote:

“Her crew performed their duties cooly and efficiently until their ship was shot from under them.”

Our education session will review the details of this monumental battle of Leyte Gulf.

Day at Leisure

Afternoon Education Session, 5:00 PM
More Hell on Earth for Navy and Marines
Iwo Jima and Okanawa

On Iwo Jima American casualities were higher than casualties of the Japanese defenders. A Marine wrote in his diary:
“It takes courage to stay at the front on Iwo Jima. It takes something we can’t tag or classify to push out ahead of those lines, against an unseen enemy who has survived two months of shell and shock, who lives beneath the rocks of the island, an enemy capable of suddenly appearing on your flanks or even at your rear, and of disappearing back into his hole... It takes courage to crawl ahead, 100 yards a day, and get up the next morning, count losses, and do it again. But that’s the only way it can be done.”

Okinawa was worse. It was the toughest and most prolonged of any battle in the Pacific since Guadalcanal. Okinawa cost our Navy 34 ships sunk, 368 damaged, more than 4,900 sailors killed or missing, and over 4,800 wounded.

Army and Marine ground troops lost 7,613 killed or missing, and 31,800 wounded. As Winston Churchill wrote to President Truman on June 22, 1945, “This battle is among the most intense and famous in military history.”

Our education session will cover the strategic importance of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and some details of the battles on the land and sea.

     Morning Education Session, 8:00 AM
Submarine Warfare

Of the eight million tons of Japanese shipping sunk during World War II, American submarines sank some five million tons, about sixty percent. Our submarines also served as lifeguards, rescuing 520 aviators who had to ditch their aircraft in the ocean. Among those rescued was Lt(jg) George H.W. Bush, whose Avenger was shot down at Chi Chi Jima in September, 1944.

But the price was high. We lost 52 submarines, about 22% of those in service, making submarine duty the most dangerous of all service during World War II.

This afternoon, we will return to Pearl Harbor to visit the submarine BOWFIN, which served with distinction during the war. Observing the cramped quarters of this vessel will make us particularly grateful to those men of the “Silent Service.”

Earlier, we visited USS Arizona, where World War II began. This afternoon, just a few yards from Arizona, we will visit where the war ended — the deck of the USS Missouri.

The Missouri (BB-63) was the last battleship ever built by any country. Although the battleship in World War II was displaced by the aircraft carrier as the primary combat vessel, the huge ships still played a major role in protecting the carriers against enemy planes, and providing off-shore fire support for our amphibious assult troops.

We will have a guided tour of the Missouri and see where it was hit by a Kamikaze plane in April, 1945. We will also see where the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945.

We will visit the Pacific Aviation Museum, located in a hangar that survived the December 7 attack. We will see a B-52 similar to one flown from the USS Hornet by Jimmy Doolittle and his pilots on their epic raid on Japan, April 18, 1942. We will also see a SBD Dauntless dive bomber, similar to those that sank four Japanese carriers in the Battle of Midway.

The balance of the day is at leisure.


Afternoon Education Session, 5:00 PM
The Atomic Bomb
The Emigre Scientists
The Potsdam Conference
President Truman’s Decision

Albert Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt in October, 1939, informing the President that “the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future.” Einstein added that the Germans were doing research on uranium and called for “watchfulness and quick action” on the part of our government.

Einstein’s initiative led to the enormous scientific effort to build an atomic bomb, known as the “Manhattan Project.” From the chain reaction achieved at the University of Chicago to the work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, the Manhattan Project brought together an extraordinary group of scientists — many of whom were European Jews who had fled from the menace of Nazi Germany.

President Truman made the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. But the Government of Japan could have avoided the devastation, if it had surrendered earlier.

At the Big Three Conference in Potsdam July, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration of July 26 called on the Japanese Government to “proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces... The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.” Receiving no reply from the Japanese, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and on Nagasaki on August 9. The Japanese surrendered on August 14.

Our education session will cover the making of the atomic bomb and the momentous events during the summer of 1945, which ended the war on September 2 on the USS Missouri.

     This morning we will be transferred to Honolulu Airport to board our return flight to San Francisco. Cocktails and a meal will be served in flight, and a movie will also be available.

Upon arrival in San Francisco, connect with your onward flight home or stay longer to enjoy the City by the Bay.