Mary Byrd was overcome with emotion Friday morning as she lifted a finger toward the long, stark white memorial that floats in Pearl Harbor above the sunken USS Arizona.
"If we had made a list from top to bottom of the things that we wanted to see, that was number one," she said, her voice cracking. "My husband served in Vietnam and his dad in World War II and his grandfather in World War I, and it was breaking our hearts that we weren’t going to be able to be there."
Like many Americans and international travelers, Byrd and her husband came to Hawaii to fulfill their dream of visiting the site of the 1941 surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But the Dayton, Tenn., residents nearly missed it because of the 16-day partial government shutdown that ended Thursday. The memorial reopened Friday.
Elmer Byrd said the trip meant everything to him.
"The fact that (my father) made it back and, well, all the people that didn’t, just touches me deeply," he said. "That men sacrificed their lives for our freedoms in this country as they did, it’s just very touching to me."
The day kicked off with a flurry of excitement as the park, officially known as the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, prepped to reopen its gates for the first time in 17 days.
"We were happy to see a big, long line snaking around the front entrance this morning when we arrived," said Eileen Martinez, spokeswoman for the monument, which operates the USS Arizona Memorial visitor site. "Visitors are happy, staff is happy. You know, you see it in their faces that people really appreciate being able to visit their national parks; that they’re precious and treasured and very popular."
Martinez said the memorial attracts an average of 3,000 to 4,000 visitors a day, and Friday was on track to be an average day.
By those numbers, the park likely turned away more than 70,000 visitors during the shutdown, she said. Financial losses aren’t yet determinable because the park does not charge admission, so revenue was mainly lost by tour operators and other small businesses affiliated with the memorial.
The Byrds said they arrived on Oahu on Tuesday with hopes that the partial government shutdown would come to a close before they left the island. They toured the USS Missouri on Wednesday, which remained open because it is not run by the government, and came back to the area Friday.
"We were so blessed to be able to come back today, so thankful," Mary Byrd said.
While some parks, including Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, reopened on Thursday, Arizona Memorial officials said they needed a day to prepare for the reopening.
Thirty-five National Parks Service employees furloughed during the shutdown returned to work at the monument, Martinez said. She added that many other workers were also affected by the shutdown, including more than 100 commercial-use authorization holders, tour operators, and retailers who sell audio tours and work in the bookstores and snack shop.
"There are a lot of people here to support the needs of our visitors," she said.
Sterling Cale, a Pearl Harbor survivor who volunteers at the visitor center signing books and information pamphlets for visitors, said he was saddened that the memorial had to close during the shutdown.
"They come from all over the world to see the Arizona Memorial, a lot of them have relatives probably on the Arizona," he said. "And they stay here for a week and can’t come do anything — their whole life is ruined because they’ll probably never come back to see the Arizona."
The Byrds said their trip to Hawaii is also special because it commemorates their 25th wedding anniversary and completes their goal of visiting all 50 states.
"And we know in our hearts that none of it would be possible without the men in our world like those that took that stand and made that sacrifice," Mary Byrd said, again pointing toward the Arizona Memorial.
"They’re the heroes."
