The second time the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor it was during a raging tropical storm in March 1942. It was the best of battles: nothing was damaged, no one was injured or killed, and everyone went home to tell the tale another day. In this case, it was decades before the public learned there had even been a second bombing.

About 2 a.m. that stormy night, radar detected two approaching bombers. Two planes were dispatched for reconnaissance. With visibility nil, the U.S. planes zoomed past the Japanese without incident.

Disoriented by the storm, one Japanese pilot misjudged his location and dropped his bombs at the mouth of Pearl Harbor. No damage was done. The second pilot mistook a peak above the clouds for Oahu and bombed the mountain. That woke up everyone. The Navy complained to the Army about nighttime target practice. The Army blamed the Navy. Commanders were too embarrassed to admit that they had been foiled a second time by the Japanese. The incident was written up as Top Secret by U.S. officials and filed away until after the war.

Most visitors to Pearl Harbor never hear about the second surprise attack. But those on the Home of the Brave tour learn about this raid and many other wartime stories during the eight-hour tour. Today, a new evening tour called Wartime Honolulu expounds on evening activities and daily life for civilians and military during the war years.

Glen Tomlinson, president of Top Gun Tours, started Home of the Brave tours in 1991 after the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor's bombing. It was initially designed to take WW II veterans back to their old stomping grounds. Over the years, many of their first-hand accounts have been incorporated into today's tours. Wartime Honolulu tours ending with a USO-style dinner show not only explores other aspects of the era, but will help fund the new visitors center for the Arizona Memorial.

Wartime Honolulu begins with Waikiki hotel pickups around 4 p.m. Glen Miller's Big Band-era music sets the mood as the tour's shuttle zips around Waikiki and Honolulu. Dressed in period uniforms, guides such as Olav Holst use photographs, maps, music, vintage radio news reports, and videos to enliven storytelling.

The evening tour stops downtown at Aliiolani Hale to view the King Kamehameha I Statue, honoring the king who united the islands, and Iolani Palace, where martial law was headquartered. Until the end of the monarchy in 1893, Iolani was America's only royal palace. Just as lights begin illuminating downtown buildings, Olav talks about blackouts, air raids and shelters.

Miles of barbed wire were strung along Waikiki in anticipation of invasion. Evacuation drills were practiced so often that the first major test in November 1943 took only 15 minutes.

Many Japanese-Americans serving on active duty as a detachment to the ROTC helped build foxholes and trenches called scare pukas, "puka" meaning "hole." One scare puka was built on the grounds of Iolani Palace. As members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, these Japanese-Americans were among the most decorated for their service.

Another stop is Aloha Tower. Olav explained how women and children were sent to ships here to await evacuation to the mainland. Husbands would come to the docks daily to converse with their families onboard, never knowing when they would actually leave. Only when enough ships were assembled to form a convoy would they depart.

In wartime, Mitsukoshi, a Japanese department store in Oahu was converted into the Victory Club for USO dances. A highlight of the Wartime Honolulu tour is a USO-style dinner theater in the Home of the Brave Museum's new Victory Club. Jackie Bay-Cadinha, formerly with the Don Ho show, provides Hawaiian entertainment. The new tour will help fund the new Visitors Center at the Arizona Memorial.

While many other tours begin and end at Pearl Harbor, Home of the Brave daytime tours go onto Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Army Barracks, Fort Shafter, Punchbowl National Memorial and downtown Honolulu.

Pick-up times for daytime tour groups start at 6 a.m. to ensure that Home of the Brave groups are first in line for Pearl Harbor. This avoids the hour-long waits experienced by other groups throughout the day. Guides stay with the group (other companies perform a drop-off and pickup service), answering questions and pointing out details that might otherwise be missed. For example, the streamers at the wall of names in the Arizona Memorial are Japanese prayer ribbons strung together with multiple paper origami cranes.

Only 150 visitors at a time are allowed on the Arizona Memorial, which straddles the sunken battleship like a saddle. Aside from beating the crowds Olav said, "We like to be the first ones out to the Arizona Memorial before the Navy starts moving ships around and stirring up the harbor waters" (making it difficult to see). The Arizona appears to be weeping as oil — about 1 quart of No. 6 fuel oil per day — disperses at the surface. Legend says the oil will stop when the last survivor of the Arizona is gone from this world.

At Wheeler Army Airfield, Olav pulled out a map to show the flight path of the 25 Japanese Aichi D3A1 dive-bombers and 16 Mitsubishi A6 Zero fighter planes on Dec. 7, 1941. They flew between Oahu's two parallel mountain ranges and crisscrossed over the airbase. "It's a myth," he said, "that there were arrows carved in the pineapple fields to guide the Japanese planes." With the mountains at their tails, the dive-bombers burned aircraft hangars and strafed the airfield where U.S. aircraft were parked wingtip to wingtip.

Harry Brown, wearing tuxedo pants from the previous evening, George Welch still in his red and white pajamas, and Ken Taylor scrambled into boots and ammo belts, commandeered a vehicle and headed for the North Shore where their planes were. Although Taylor and Welch each shot down 14 aircraft, they received no special recognition because they weren't under orders. Home of the Brave participants are allowed to photograph a P-40 fighter plane used in the making of the 1970 Hollywood film "Tora, Tora, Tora," but the airfield itself is strictly off limits.

Additional maps of the Japanese flight paths are found in the Tropic Lightning Museum (closed Mondays) at Schofield Army Barracks, another tour stop. Museum displays document the 25th Infantry's role in World War II through the Gulf War. Portions of the Barracks were used in filming the 1953 World War II classic "From Here to Eternity."

Lunch (on your own) is served at Fort Shafter's golf club house, allowing time for informal questions. In a nearby tunnel (not on the tour), "shuffleboard pilots" charted aircraft movements on large maps. One reason for the surprise attack was U.S. planes from the mainland were due in that day. It was assumed that those were the planes picked up on radar.

The tour continues at Palm Circle, which was strafed Dec. 7. The scene was re-enacted here during the filming of the 2001 Hollywood film "Pearl Harbor." Office building T117 was used as a barracks in the same movie.

In 1944 Richardson Hall opened off the Circle as the "Pineapple Pentagon," headquarters of the U.S. Army Pacific Command. A foyer mural depicts troops returning home from Europe and the Pacific. The artist hauntingly painted each man to resemble himself. Tales of spies and intrigue continue as the tour reaches Punchbowl National Memorial where 744 Pearl Harbor victims are among the 30,000 Americans buried there.

"Veterans still give us their eyewitness accounts," said Glen Tomlinson, president of Top Gun Tours. "All ages enjoy the stories they heard their dad or grandfather tell. Home of the Brave was designed to see the sights and hear the sounds that make World War II come alive."

As George M. Tomlinson (Glen's uncle) said, "We will remain the land of the free, as long as we are the home of the brave."

IF YOU GO

Because the National Park Service's Visitor Center and the USS Arizona are located on the Pearl Harbor Naval Station, security has been tightened since Sept. 11. No fanny packs, backpacks, purses or oversized cameras are allowed. Plan to carry only those things you can fit into your pockets. Because the tour includes military bases, IDs may be spot-checked. No such restrictions apply for the evening Wartime Honolulu tour.

Home of the Brave Tours last 8 hours. Lunch is served en route but not included in the tour price. The tour includes a stop at the Home of the Brave Museum and gift shop, which has movie posters and World War II history and artifacts. Visitors can be photographed riding in a camouflaged Jeep or motorcycle. $89 plus tax adults, $79 plus tax children, ages 2-11, seniors and military.

Wartime Honolulu lasts 4 hours and includes a dinner show. It costs $79 plus tax adults, $69 plus tax children, seniors, and active-duty military. through travel agents or directly at 808-396-8112. PO Box 25204, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825; Visit online www.topguntours.com

The Hale Koa Hotel (for military personnel and their families only) has a prime Waikiki beach location and bargain rates. 2055 Kalia Road, Honolulu.

808-955-0555/800-367-6027. Visit online www.halekoa.com

Carolyn Thornton is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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