PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (KHON2) -- The Battleship Missouri Memorial held an unveiling and
blessing for the opening of a new exhibit, “Life After Infamy: The Resilience of the Aloha Spirit in Wartime Hawai‘i” on Wednesday.
The exhibit is about Dorinda Nicholson's journey during the wartime Hawai‘i, highlighting a kamaʻāina experience of that infamous morning.
The exhibit will display personal artifacts loaned by Nicholson, including the child’s gas mask that she carried during the war, WWII-era Red Cross items, and the Nanea doll that was inspired by Nicholson’s story.
“Our relationship with Aunty Dorinda goes back many years ago, which makes this exhibit opening so much more special. We are honored to showcase her story and the significance of the aloha spirit then and now,” said Mike Carr, President and CEO of the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
KHON2 asked Nicholson on what her story is realizing that the Pearl Harbor was being bombed.
"I don't know that we realized," Nicholson said. "Even the men on the ship saw the airplanes coming in and said how unusual, Sunday morning Army and Navy don't do practicing together. So, I am six, hearing the expulsions, feeling the explosions. My father runs out the door and I am right behind him, and we stand in our yard, we look up just barely above the trees, just barely above our house top and airplanes are coming in for their final descent. We go up Lehua Avenue from the end of the peninsula, cross Kamehameha Hwy and go up into the hills where the Waimano Home used to be and hide in the sugar cane fields."
KHON2: You said we are all going to have our own Pearl Harbor, whatever that may look like. What did you mean by that?
"Every person has had their Pearl Harbor, will have a continuing Pearl Harbor. But if you're young, some day you will face your own 9/11, you will face your own Pearl Harbor," Nicholson said. "Use the people now in your life and the stories of who you are, your history, write it down. Write it down, share it from generations to generations and the power of love and the power of Aloha, share that. That is and can be your legacy."
The exhibit will be on display in the ship’s Second Deck until June 2025.
To get tickets and more information, visit their website.