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My Dad was in the attack. It was the beginning of his battles in the Pacific. | |||
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| Muzzle flash aficionado  |
My memories of Pearl Harbor Day are pretty sparse. I was exactly 2 weeks shy of 4 years old. I remember that my parents listened to the rradio and seemed very worried. I can't be certain, but I think my family was in Detroit, Michigan at the time (the 1940 US Census has us there), but we went to California for a while soon after. My dad did not serve in the military, but he did "war work": building wings for B-24s in the Willow Run aircraft plant south of Detroit, and doing something in the Alameda, California Naval Yards (never discussed it with me). I had several uncles who were in the military during WWII, and I did see them occasionally; however, they never discussed the war with me, or what they did. Most were in the Army, but my dad's youngest brother was Navy, and my mom's youngest brother was AAF. They've all been dead for many years. (I'll be 85 in 2 weeks.) It was, indeed, a "Day of Infamy" and FDR's speech was classic. I've been to Oahu, Hawai'i several times, and I've visited the USS Arizona Memorial twice. My vision fogs up every time. My photos of the memorial in 1965 are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157631716781757/ My photos of the 2008 visit are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157608718150099/ (beginning of Album, some views of "Punchbowl" later on) And there are 3 photos of the USS Arizona firing her big rifles (16' guns) at the end of this Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...m-72157608718150099/ flashguy Texan by choice, not accident of birth | |||
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| Member |
Sadly as the son of a WWII veteran, this day will soon disappear from memory of most of the population. Probably rarely mentioned in any type of current school curriculum. | |||
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Member |
I was proud to see the flags at half mast today in Tomball, TX to commemorate this day and the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many on this Day of Infamy. God BLESS the greatest generation! "If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24 | |||
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| drop and give me 20 pushups |
Today a celebration was held in Bougalusa, Louisiana to return home after 81 years Navy Seaman First Class Houston Temples who at the age of 24yrs died while serving on the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941. ... What a day to be returned home. ... drill sgt. | |||
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Prepared for the Worst, Providing the Best |
Same here in northern Indiana. Local volunteer FD had the flag at half-mast, and it inspired me to take a moment to stop and remember the great men to whom our nation should be forever grateful. | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
Respectfully flashguy, images in your 3rd link are a Iowa Class ship fireing its 16" guns. Arizona BB 39 was a Pennsylvania Class which had 12 x 14" guns. You can see Phalanx guns in that image sir. | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
I learned something more of Arizona as it seems she got a little pay back. Two of her gun turrets were installed for coastal defense but only 1 was test fired in 1945. Her guns from another turret were mounted on USS Nevada and used to bombard Normandy and later Iwo and Okinawa. | |||
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| Member |
Fox needs to step it up. Jesse Waters mentioned the day of Infamy when Kamikazi planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Hope he get letters. Almost as bad as saying the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. News anchors used to be bright, this guy is a dolt, | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head  |
I'd never given it much thought, but you make a good point. These days the descriptor "survivor" is over-used and assigned to all sorts of difficulties and horrific abuses... cancer survivor, child abuse survivor, sexual assault survivor. I understand why it's used but, in my opinion, it's as over-used as the word hero, and leads to a similar diminished meaning. The men at Pearl Harbor didn't just survive. They weren't just survivors of the attack. They didn't just hide during the attack or pull the lucky card from the deck of fate and somehow miss being killed. They did their duty, used their training, and mounted a credible defense with whatever means they had available... in other words, they were defenders. Ok, you sold me.  | |||
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| Who Woulda Ever Thought? |
My USMC dad was there on December 7th 1941. He passed away in 1983. He'd be 102 if he still was alive. | |||
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Fly High, A.J. |
My son is a Navy LT(JG) stationed in Hawaii. He was promoted from Ensign back in August on the Arizona Memorial. He wanted to be promoted there (at least partly) because I re-enlisted in the Army on the Memorial on December 5, 1988. Every year his command raises flags on the Memorial on December 7, and the flags are sold as a fund raiser for the Memorial. One of the links HRK posted on page 1 of this thread shows the flags for sale. This year, my son was finally able to volunteer to do the flag raising ceremony. They went to the Memorial at zero dark thirty and raised 2500 flags in around 4 hours. Just before 0800, F22s did a missing man flyover, and a destroyer sailed past the memorial just as colors were played. The highlight of the day, though, was his meeting a Pearl Harbor survivor/defender. The gentleman is 105 years old and was an aviation engineer assigned to a PBY squadron on Ford Island. Not only did he survive the attack, he was in the squadron that located the Japanese fleet during the Battle of Midway. I'm waiting for my son to give me more information on the gentleman so I can do more research on him. Needless to say, he was stoked when he called me to tell me about it, and I was excited for him for the opportunity. | |||
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Fourth line skater |
Its amazing to me that so many of us still have a connection to that day. _________________________ OH, Bonnie McMurray! | |||
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| Muzzle flash aficionado |
Thank you for the correction. Those were photos of pictures posted in the airport Memorial and I may have repeated what they were called there. I will fix the Descriptions on my copies. flashguyThis message has been edited. Last edited by: flashguy, Texan by choice, not accident of birth | |||
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| 7.62mm Crusader |
I think one of the Iowas fired its 16" guns once from either Hawaii or Japan in a bay but just with sand bags..  | |||
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