66th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

[AmateisGal]

Hard to believe it's been 66 years since the beginning of America's involvement in World War II.

I went to a gathering of my hometown World War II veterans. The express purpose was to record, on video and on paper, their stories for the local VFW. We had a Pearl Harbor veteran there and I eagerly looked forward to his story. He was a friend of my grandparents and many was the time they'd been at the local coffee shop and I'd popped in and he had been there with them. He always had a light in his eye and the ability to make me laugh.

That light wasn't there the day he made his way to the front of the room to tell his story. In fact, his whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, he was back on that island in the Pacific - and far, far away from those of us in the room.

He didn't share much, and in between his halting sentences, he choked back sobs. He spoke for maybe two or three minutes. Then he made his way back to his chair, his cowboy boots leaving a hollow sound on the floor.

 

[Twitch]

And it was all based on what was basically a bet that if the Americans didn't capitulate immediately, as Isoruko Yamamoto stated, " I can run wild in the Pacific for no more than 6 months or a year before the industrial might of America turns the tide."

In 6 months the Japanese would suffer their biggest defeat in history at Midway.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

an article that might add to the dicussion

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pearl7dec07,0,4471368.story?coll=la-home-center



Their ranks thinned by age, Pearl Harbor veterans today are commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Japanese attack and wondering whether Americans will remember one of the most defining moments in history after they die.

"When we're gone, we're gone," said 87-year-old Jack Ray Hammett. "We're already just a paragraph in the history books. Will even that disappear when the last one of us dies?"


President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a speech to Congress, immortalized the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, as a "date which will live in infamy." Today, those words are remembered mostly by the generation that lived through World War II.

It is a generation in steady decline. About 16 million Americans served in uniform during the war. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 2.7 million are living, but they are dying at the rate of about 1,000 per day.

The exact number of Pearl Harbor survivors, though unknown, is smaller, and they are older than the average WWII veteran. Hammett, a former Costa Mesa mayor, said he liked to think of his buddies as "walking, living history."

Some Pearl Harbor veterans in Southern California are keeping that history alive through Hammett's Freedom Committee of Orange County, a speakers bureau that arranges for survivors to speak before groups about the day that changed their lives and turned a reluctant United States into a superpower.

Martin K.A. Morgan, historian in residence at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, said Pearl Harbor was "where the United States rendezvoused with the destiny we are experiencing now as a world power."

"Almost everyone can trace how World War II touched his or her family," Morgan said. "When all of our World War II vets are gone, how much of this interest will continue?"

El Toro Memorial Park cemetery's annual Pearl Harbor Day ceremony today in southern Orange County will feature two speakers: Hammett and Orange resident Robert Thomas, who was awarded the Navy Cross for bravery during the battle. The medal is the service's second-highest award for bravery.

Thomas, 88, retired as a captain in 1964 and went on to become Orange County's first chief administrative officer. The county hall of administration is named in his honor.

The Japanese attack, which killed 2,403 Americans, jarred the country out of its isolationist lull.

"The effect was significant. But compared to the Battle of the Bulge, Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor was a minor battle," Thomas said. U.S. casualties in those battles ranged as high as 72,000 men.

Thomas, who had graduated from the Naval Academy months earlier, was an ensign aboard the battleship Nevada commanding a 5-inch antiaircraft battery. He suffered shrapnel wounds in his legs and right wrist but remained on deck barking orders until he collapsed.

"I was probably going into shock, because I felt so safe and serene, even while the attack continued," he said.

"I remember thinking, OK, you SOBs. You tried to kill me and you didn't."

Thomas recalled watching Japanese planes crisscross the smoke-filled sky, and the sound of explosions from enemy torpedoes and bombs hitting what was left of the Pacific Fleet. The curses of sailors desperately defending the Nevada punctuated the chaos. His father, a Navy captain, died in an aircraft crash during the war.

Hammett and his wife, Mary Jo, now 84, were sleeping when the attack began. He said they were awakened by his landlord, who arrived to collect the rent and told them the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor, "12 miles down the hill." He peeked out the door just in time to hear a tremendous explosion from Battleship Row.

Hammett, a medical corpsman who served 30 years in the Navy and reserves, went to the Naval Hospital, where he spent the next three days treating the wounded and "stacking the dead like cordwood in a basement." After going home for a few hours, Hammett said, he returned to bury the dead, who had been laid out on tennis courts behind the hospital.

Mary Jo was 18, and although Hammett was on active duty, "we were on our honeymoon," he said.

Were it not for a sympathetic chief petty officer, Hammett said, he could have been among the dead.

the rest and the pictures are at the link

 

[kpreed]

Very nice story, thank you. I am so sad that so many of our WWII vets are now gone. Here is my uncle who died at Pearl on the U.S.S. Oklahoma. May he Rest in Peace.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Today

Honoring the people who died in the surprise attack and the brave men and women who served in the war following.
Thanks for your posts AmateisGal and kpreed.

 

[Mike K.]

As I write this post, I ponder the fact that 66 years ago - almost to the minute - the attack on Pearl Harbor was underway. I wonder what I would've done had today been in 1941 and not 2007. Would I have been as scared...and as brave? Would I be among those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today?

This was, according to many, our greatest generation. It was a time and a war unlike any other, and shaped so much of what and who we are today. Will we forget? I think not! No more than we have ever overlooked or forgotten other transforming events of our nation's history. Moreover, so long as there are groups with an interest in historic preservation (like the Fedora Lounge), the people and events of WWII will always be remembered and the stories, photos, etc. will be shared with generations to come.

 

[carter]

We will never forget.

My older sister was born on December 7, 1946, five years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Her birthday has always been bittersweet as we remember those who fought and died at Pearl Harbor.

Flowers floating on the water before the USS Arizona Memorial.

1,177 sailors and marines died when the Arizona was attacked and sunk. Most are interred with their ship beneath the memorial.
May they rest in peace.

National Geographic online has much, much more...
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/

 

[Hondo]

Never forget December 7, 1946

Thank a Veteran when ever you see one, young and old,
it’s a part of your history, Cheers,
and prayers to the fallen on this day, 66th Anniverary.
Never forget! God Bless America!

 

[Mike K.]

Never forget December 7, 1946

Huh? You mean '41 right?

 

[BuzzTheTower]

My family was living in Honolulu at the time. My grandfather was the executive officer of the U.S. Coast Guard ship Roger Taney, one of four ships in the squadron of the U.S.S. Ward, which sank a Japanese submarine at 6:00am. There was enough communication that my grandfather was called to the ship by 7:30am, less than a half-hour before the attack started. My grandmother told me that while driving grandpa to the ship, with all the kids in the car, including my mother, she tried to turn on the radio, and grandpa slapped her hand and said don't listen to that. I think he wanted to make sure she didn't panic, as he must have known something not-so-good was about to happen. The ship's crew had the guns ready by the time the attack came, but planes didn't head for Honolulu until the second attack. At that point, they were able to fire at five planes and possibly damage one.

The family had to leave Hawaii soon afterwards for San Francisco (invasion was still thought possible), and my grandpa and the Taney went to the Aleutian war, still under Admiral Theobald. Supposedly, my grandfather was one of the main navigational officers for that campaign, as he had spent years in Alaska before in quite boring Coast Guard duty.

He died in 1963, so I was never able to ask about that time. My uncle said that he also deeply regrets not quizzing his dad about what he did in WWII, as often happens in families. My grandma remembered hearing the concussions of the bombs and hearing planes overhead, but they stayed in the house.

I read a book by another crewman of the Taney (who was transfered to a shore station when my grandpa was transfered to the ship) and it's really interesting to hear how much chaos was happening the first two or three days after the attack. Anything moving was a potential invasion, and at night, it was the worst. Men being moved in trucks were the worst targets, as people actually thought the Japanese would land with trucks at night. A number of U.S. planes were shot down over the next couple of days.

One very interesting story in the book is that someone flew a Japanese plane over to Oahu at night in either 1942 or 1943...can't remember. It definitely crashed and the remains were found a couple days later. What was that for? One plane sure can't do much.

I have one of the Hawaiian U.S. dollars (big HAWAII stamped on the back) with some signatures on it from grandpa's friends. That's really cool.

Thanks for reading!
John

 

[carter]

John, Thanks for posting your Grandparent's experience. There are many of these recollections on the National Geographic website mentioned earlier. Have you considered adding this to the rembrances posted there?

 

[Mike K.]

Kpreed, John, Denise - thanks for posting those pics and stories. So long as we continue to hold on to these bits of treasured family history, we will keep the past alive.

 

[Story]

http://www.navycompass.com/news/newsview.asp?c=231163

Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn was still in bed with his wife Alice at Kaneohe Naval Air Station, and Seaman 2nd Class John Morrill was just getting off watch aboard the USS Castor (AKS 1) at Merry Point.

Neither of them suspected an attack was about to occur.

"All of a sudden, I heard planes flying and I think, 'It's Sunday,'" said Finn. "And then I think, 'Why are these planes flying over the barracks? That isn't in the flight path.'

"I hear machine guns, and I thought, 'Who is firing?' I should know. I'm a chief ordnanceman."

Finn said he then heard a quick knock at the door. It was the wife of his leading petty officer Eddie Sullivan.

"I asked her a silly question," said Finn. "I said, 'What's up Lou?'"

Lou told Finn he was needed at the hangar and returned her home. He never had a chance to ask her any questions.

"I don't remember saying a word to Alice. I finished putting on my uniform and put on my socks, because I hate to go without wearing socks and jumped in my 1938 Ford," Finn said.

Sullivan came out of his home, still getting into his uniform, with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"We both got in the car and never said good morning," Finn said. "And away we went to the hangar. Sullivan always rode with me to work, and I would drop him off at the parachute loft."

On the way to the hangar, Finn said he picked up a young seaman. Finn continued to think to himself that something was wrong. He heard a plane roar from behind him.

"I looked out the window and into the sky, and when that plane got abreast of me, he put one wing up and one down - I saw that red dot and I knew the (Japanese) were here," said Finn.

"I remember what I said then. I said, 'Eddie this is the Real McCoy. It's the (Japanese).' I put my ol' car in second gear. It was a V8 Ford, and it could scat," added Finn.

He dropped the young seaman off at his squadron hangar and hurried to his hangar, which was about a quarter of a mile from where he dropped the boy off.

"I kicked the car out of gear, and ran like a deer to my armory. It was in the far southwest corner of the hangar - a big armory full of gun racks, machine guns and gear you could use on an airplane," Finn said.

"Every damn PBY plane but three that we had caught on fire and was burning," Finn said.

In an open area, Finn operated a .50 caliber Browning machine gun. He was completely exposed and was wounded several times from being hit by shrapnel.

However, Finn continued to man his position and attempted to take out as many Japanese Zeros as possible until night came.

"I did what I was trained to do," said Finn.

He didn't receive any care until the day after the attacks. He lost use of his left arm and was shot in his left foot. He stayed in the hospital until Christmas Eve.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Last weekend...

myself and a few others from the FL went on the http://www.overlandtrail.com/

and got to talk with a few survivors of Pearl Harbor while on a nifty old fashioned train ride, dressed up in vintage.

It was a very lovely and touching experience.