To all those surviving service members who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor thank you for service ----you are not forgotten
I was thinking about this today. An eighteen year old would have been born around 1923…100 years old.
There are not many left of the greatest generation more than ever we can not let them fade into history but remembered for their call to arms. I dare say todays youth would not respond in kind.
The Punchbowl National cemetery. Wife and I spent part of the day there while on holiday - very sobering. I suspect all these men are turning over in their graves given the current state of affair here at home.
Pearl Harbor: Hawaii Was Surprised; FDR Was Not - The New American Lays it all out - with references. Just like the Rat Basterd, Wilson, FDR sold us out....
Let us also remember the many once proud ships which took all that damage death and destruction, many were salvaged and returned to service to avenge Pearl Harbor, sadly, none were preserved! The most beautiful Battle Wagon ever built by any nation, U.S.S. West Virginia, like a Phoenix risen from the ashes, she went on to avenge all who were lost, and she struck back at Japan with a vengeance! This grand Lady SHOULD have been saved, along with her Sister the California, but Alas, they were both scrapped!
Like so much of WW II has been lost-- my father was a naval officer on one of the many Liberty ships built. Sadly only 2 remain intact without them IMO the war would have been lost
My grandfather was in the Army ,, stationed at Pearl Harbor ,, but got out in 1939. When he enlisted ,, he walked in and told the recruiter,, he wanted to go so far away , that it would cost 5 dollars to send a penny postcard home . He was recalled into the Army in 1945 ,, the war ended the day before he was to ship out .I guess he got lucky. I've talked with quite a few WW11 Vets,, and I try and tell the stories they've told me to anyone that will listen . I feel that's the best way that I can honor them for their sacrifices. Our greatest generation is about gone. I talked with a fella that was on the USS Enterprise in WW11 ,, he said they went into general quarters one day ,, he said he couldn't get to his assigned post before the hatches were locked . Said he got stuck in the laundry room ,, a few levels below deck. He said a bomb hit the ship that day ,, went thru the deck ,, went a few levels down ,, and landed in a pile of dirty laundry with him in the laundry room . I can only imagine having to sit there looking at that bomb , throughout that battle,, just waiting for it to go off.
My Uncle served aboard U.S.S. New Mexico all through out WW-II, from the day she left New York Harbor, to the last magic carpet ride across the Pacific, ending up in a V.A Hospital shortly after the ship tied along side, and he passed in that hospital in 1947, the cause was "Consumption" according to the Navy at that time! Truth was, Uncle Jon was Chief Water Tender aboard ship, which meant he was the damage control chief in charge of keeping the water pumps running in case of fire or the need to counter flood the ship, and he died of T.B. which was a very common fate amongst sailors of Steel Warships who served below decks! Uncle Jon was a rabid photographer, and he had well over a thousand photos of his time aboard ship, he also saved every copy of the ships official news paper, and he kept a pretty detailed, though spotty diary of his time in the Navy, as well as his time aboard ship! My family, with blessings from my father, made copies of everything and sent the entire package to the Navy History Center in Virginia, which is in the process of curating it all to be put on display all through out the Navy, from the Academy, to the Warfare Collage, and several other places of honor! To everyone's knowledge, this is by far and away the most comprehensive war time account of any warship in the entire history of the U.S Navy, with many details of ship's actions and other facts unknown until now, outside of the ships logs and captain's log! Uncle Jon was one of THOUSANDS of unknown and un named men in uniform who simply did their jobs with great honor, courage, and pride, and that is why I celebrate this day!
I didn't know my father, he left when I was about 3 years old, but apparently the war changed him, according to his sister and brother, my aunt and uncle that I did know. He was in the engine room throughout WW2, he was destroyers I think, not sure, got shot out of his boat I think as many as 3X, not sure about that either, screwed him up but he made it thru the war and retired after 30+ years. I didn't understand him until I went to war myself, now I do, a bit. What most of this country doesn't get because they are always so safe behind their oceans is the effects are felt long afterwards in a million different ways. For example, Vietnam is over now for almost 50 years - yet - the American people are still paying for it, no longer in blood, but the cost to help the veterans whose limbs, lives or minds were lost. The war is never truly over for at least 2-3 generations afterwards, maybe more. Yet, they plunge us into war again and again for reasons that have nothing to do with the nation or its security. We are now in Syria and other countries in the Middle East. Why? I haven't a clue. I really don't - yet - we are there, and some other boys and girls will grow up without a father because war will change him or maybe he will be disfigured physically or mentally or perhaps he won't ever come back. It's bullshit. I believe there have been 3 wars that have defined this country: Revolutionary 1776, Civil War 1861, and WW2 1941. I will not argue if they were just or necessary. I further believe the odds are very good, we who are alive now, will see a fourth defining war, a 2nd Civil War and that I believe, with all my heart it's necessary and just. Perhaps it will not be as bloody or as long as the first, but it will be just as defining, I believe more so.
Dad spent his time in service during that war at Cold Bay Alaska as a crash truck driver at that airport.
Extremely good article. Thank you. My America First grandmother always said the same but, of course, I never listened to her growing up. However, I did meet an old logger in my travels as a kid logging in Alaska who was there at Pearl Harbor and one night he ranted about how they, the Air Defense guys and the rest of the base had been on constant alerts for 2 weeks then they stopped just a day or two before the attack. Later while serving in the Army, I met an old, retired warrant officer that was working as an engineer in my battalion, and I was assigned to assist him. He told me of his days in the Army, starting at Pearl Harbor as the Communication Center officer and how the maintenance on his equipment (I think it was the secure teletypes) was constantly denied prior to the attack because it would take the center offline. He thought nothing of it until he found out the denial was coming far above the base commander then suddenly the day before, he was task to perform the maintenance which normally took a full day - again - that tasking came from above. The next morning the Japanese attacked and him and his crew got back online in record time. He said he couldn't explain it, but he had his doubts. He later fought in many places, finally in the Philippines where a Japanese soldier bayoneted him, and I think knocked him out of the war. I finalized his story with, "...he stuck me good but I blew the fxcker's head off." He was a real character. LOL! He also was responsible for the engineering and contracting of the entire comms system in Vietnam, had the pen that signed the contracts on his desk. EDIT: Reading this article made me think, "How can we ever trust our own government?" Obviously, we can't... "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." Thomas Paine
Both my Grand Fathers served in WW-II,, as well as several uncles, cousins, and others I would never get to meet! Dads Dad was a Boiler Maker, which is how my Dads older Step brother Uncle Jon was assigned to the New Mexico, they both worked in the ship yards building or repairing ships, and Uncle Jon was sent to Newport News as a boiler tech, and later became chief water tender aboard ship! My other Grand Father enlisted in the Army, he felt enlisting would keep him off the ships which he felt was safer, little did he know, he ended up in Armored Cavalry as a Tanker, and got his first deployment just after D-Day when he and his command went ashore in France with their brand new shiny tanks to take the fight to the Nazis and drive them back to Germany for good! He didn't talk about his time during the war very much, but you could tell he was often troubled by it, he drank too much, and he was very quiet, often just sitting and staring off at the distance, but he somehow held it together and raised a family and served as Sheriff for many years among many other jobs he had over the years after the War! He passed in 2005 at the age of 99 and 8 months, and said he had no regrets and that he had a good life, more then he deserved! I never really knew my Dads parents, both passed when I was very young, so I never got to know them, I would have loved to have heard their stories!
One of my uncles was a cook on the West Virginia and survived because he smoked. They had finished breakfast and went up to take a break when it was hit. He was blown overboard, picked up by a small craft, taken to the hospital and came too 12 days later. Family got telegram that he was missing and presumed dead. When he got out of the hospital he was transferred to the USS Saratoga That lasted until Feb 21, 1945 and then he was wounded again and transferred to shore duty at Bremerton Washington The Sara was designed as a light cruiser and a such had torpedo and armor unlike the lat aircraft carriers. The damage it took and survived are amazing. It missed Pearl Harbor, was in the states, but not the war. USS Saratoga CV3 War Damage Report No. 19 https://www.historyandheadlines.com...aratoga-candidate-toughest-ship-world-war-ii/ Sara was sunk in he atomic bomb tests, survived the air blast, took 7 hours to sink after the underwater test with no crew aboard. My uncle said that was was one of the best days of his life. No one was going to scrap the Sara and sell the steel to the Japanese. It deserved an honorable end. Don't mean to hijack the thread, but we all pay homage to those killed at Pearl and often forget that those that survived were in fact the cadre that fought in the early days when we were just holding on and allowed us to win the war in the Pacific. Two of my uncles were in the merchant marine, one on a Liberty ship and the other on a T3 tanker that was used to fuel navy ships and some were converted to light aircraft carriers. His ship had been built and run by an oil company, Told great stories of hiding during the day and very moonlight nights in the early days in New Guneia and meeting and refueling aircraft carriers before and after their fights with the Japanese and hauling fuel to Marine airbases on the islands and to Australia. Mixed loads, bunker fuel for ships and ave gas for planes. They did about 15 to 18 knots and seldom ran in convoys. Cimarron-class oiler (1939) - Wikipedia
As I posted my dad was a naval officer on a liberty ship and had gone to the Merchant Marine Academy his room mate later my uncle was also on a liberty ship and was torpedoed by the germans and survived. Merchant Marine seems to be a forgotten service because they were mainly civilians with Naval officers on board. Were not eligible for veterans benefits until many years later. Interesting fact "There were 243,000 mariners that served in the war. And 9,521 perished while serving—a higher proportion of those killed than any other branch of the US military. Roughly four percentof those who served were killed, a higher casualty rate than that of any of the American military services during World War II."
@duane I can't imagine serving on a T3 class tanker during WW2. It would be like having on a bomb under your backside waiting to go off. I think my nerves would have failed me... I honestly don't think I could have done it, at least, not for long before becoming a wreck.
