Memorial Day--The USS Hornet

I wanted to make sure we did something special on Memorial Day to honor our service men who fought and died for our freedom. We are fortunate enough to live right next to the Presidio here in SF that has services in the National Cemetery each year but I thought the kids might be too young to sit through the speeches as well as be scared by the gun fire of the gun salute...maybe next year. So I did a quick search and found out we have floating war museum in the USS Hornet right across the bay!

As most of you know, I love visiting historical sites and aircraft carriers are right at the top of my list. We knew the crowds would be heavy so we planned on getting there right when they opened to try and make it through in a reasonable amount of time. Turns out, we were some of the first on board and got guided tours by the real WWII vets that flew and sailed on the USS Hornet! We were taken all the way up to the navigation bridge, guided through the Admiral Offices, and took our turn at the Captain's wheel....all personally guided by our fighter pilot veteran who flew off the Hornet when he was 19 years old!! He had amazing stories to tell us along with all the "inside secrets" of the time.


But as exciting as the tour was, the kids saw the airplanes and were itching to get up close and touch them. We hit the flight deck first and had to see the "shark" plane", as Timo called it, first. We then went down to the Hanger Deck to see the Apollo 11, more aircraft and helicopters. The Hornet is famous not only for it's part in WW II but also the recovery of Apollo 11 & 12...so Timo was thrilled to see the spaceship and rocket exhibits.
The kids even got to try their hands at flying in the seat of a real fighter jet! I have to say Cameron took to the pilot's seat much better than Timo did...

I'm sad we didn't get to stick around the Memorial Day festival but it was starting a little too late in the day for the kids. The stag looked fantastic and I was so impressed by all the uniformed men and woman that were gathering for it...maybe next time...
I know the kids are a little too young to understand every thing they saw and did but I hope they will grow to have firm understanding a tender heart toward our history of the armed forces...their service, commitment and sacrifice. Thank you to all our Veteran...past and present!!