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+--- Thread: No One Remembers (/showthread.php?tid=4628)
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No One Remembers - MountainMan - 12-07-2011
Today is December 7th, and no one remembers anymore what that means.
Even the Lame Stream Media news programs are filled with the usual vapid and meaningless junk that passes for "news" these days.
Re: No One Remembers - Steamtrains - 12-07-2011
It's hard for us to envision what ocurred on that fateful day 60 years ago....
It was the opening act of a hell that was to be lived through for nearly 4 years....To speak of the men and women who went through it as "The Greatest Generation" is an understatement. Their sacrifice secured the foundation for the country we live in today.
Our thoughts should be with them for as long as this nation exists....
Re: No One Remembers - poliss - 12-07-2011
I remembered it. Just watched Tora Tora Tora last week (again).
My Uncle had already been fighting the Germans for two years before that, as well as the 10 Americans who flew in the Battle of Britain.
Re: No One Remembers - yellowlynn - 12-07-2011
It was my privilege to know well 2 Pearl Harbor Survivors. Both have passed on now, and I feel very proud to have had their friendship.
When I was a child, Dave Cole was a friend of my older brother. We attended church together. Then the war hit, and he enlisted in the Navy. In the course of time the Hornet and another ship were sunk, and he survived. He still lives with his one and only wife, and one if the finest men I will ever know.
Proud? You bet I'm proud to have known many who fought in that generation.
Lynn
Re: No One Remembers - Brakie - 12-07-2011
December 7th was a tragedy that should have never happen..
But,we just had to move our fleet closer to Japan and we reinforced Wake Island and Midway-all could have been seen as acts of aggression and would be today.We embargoed steel to Japan due to their invasion of China
We knew the combine fleet with all of their main battle carriers departed their home waters destination unknown.
We know at At 0645 The Ward fired on and depth charged a submarine and sent a report saying:
"We have attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges on a submarine operating in defensive sea areas." This report went unheeded.
At 0702 the Oahu radar station reported a large inbound flight that was disregarded as inbound B17s that was to be use in patrol duty.
At 0757 The attack began.
As long as I've studied the events prior to the attack I found lots of mistakes made by us.Just one officer contacting both base commender's could have saved lives.
The Japanese attack didn't go as planned either.The torpedo plans was to attack first followed by the dive bombers.
Fuchida was to use a single flare to indicate "surprise" two flares indicated "Surprise lost"
When Fuchida used a flare to signal "surprise" he seen the torpedo plans moved into their attack position but, the dive bombers wasn't moving to their position behind the torpedo plans he fired the second flare and the dive bombers saw the flair and thought that was the signal for "surprise lost" so,you now you have the torpedo planes and dive bombers hurling into Pearl.
-----------------------
There's no doubt chaos reign supreme on December 7th,1941 from supply Sargent's not issuing ammo without the proper paper work to the wrong type of ammo being issued..
There was tragedy on the ships too..A antiaircraft gun crew cut down several sailors and gun crews on the ship moored along side. 5" Antiaircraft shells landed in Honolulu killing several civilians.Antiaircraft guns fire on U.S plans shooting down several killing some of the pilots.
Re: No One Remembers - Sumpter250 - 12-07-2011
The year was 1943, the keel was laid for USS Lowry DD-770, and in November of that year I was born.
The year was 1944, and Lowry was at war in the pacific, and I was in diapers.
The year was 1963, March. USS Lowry returned from the Cuban Blockade, and I reported aboard for duty.
I remained in Lowry for three years.
The year was 1999, 16 January, 1350 Hours. 20-some degrees, 2-some minutes S - 40-some degrees, 50-some minutes W.
She lies at rest in 1250 Fathoms of Atlantic Ocean.
Except in the memory of those who served in her, who are still here to remember, she is forgotten, and when we who still remember are gone, she will only exist in the written record.
Those who survived the War in the Pacific, will take those memories with them when they leave.
Lowry, was my home for three years, I remember her, but in the words of a favorite folk song, "Be not too hard, for life is short, and nothing is given to Man. "
Re: No One Remembers - ezdays - 12-07-2011
I do remember listening to the radio, as a six-year old, I really didn't understand what the president was saying about a "day of infamy", but during the next few years I got to understand. I remember the blackouts and air raid sirens, I guess I should have been scared, but I wasn't. I remember thinking, even being that young, "wouldn't it be great to read a newspaper headline that wasn't about the war".
There was this lady that lived downstairs from us, she had one of those banners in her window, one star for each son serving. Her's had three stars, one was gold. I remember being in the movies where you got to see the latest Newsreels, and I caught a glimpse of my uncle on the screen. He was a gunner on a ship in the Pacific. I don't know which one or what type, but it didn't matter. There was pride, watching your uncle shoot at the enemy and then fear that he wouldn't make it home. But he did, and he brought me a present, a Japanese rifle that he brought back from the war. What a treasure, but it was given away when I left for the service myself in '52. Nope, I never saw combat, I was in the Air Force right at the beginning of the jet age, but I do remember seeing some B29's on the tarmac that we used to tow targets for jets to fire their air-to-air missiles at. I always thought that was a degrading way to use those proud birds that did so much to win the big war just a few years prior. It was....
Down at the Arizona state capitol today, they rang the bell from the USS Arizona, and call out names. They do that every year since the bell was retrieved. I saw pictures on the news today of a man that was at the USS Arizona memorial. He was there 70 years ago, and the reporter asked him what he thought when people called him a hero. He pointed to the ship that lay under the water and said, "there are the real heroes, they're still there".
No my friend, a lot of people remember. The ranks of those that were there that day are getting smaller, but their legacy must live on for eternity. Someday, the history books will reduce that day to a single paragraph and the entire war to a page or two, but no one should be allowed to forget.
Re: No One Remembers - steinjr - 12-07-2011
ezdays Wrote:No my friend, a lot of people remember.
Of course they do.
A quick google search shows coverage on CNN, CBS, Washington Post, New York Times, Denver Post, Sacramento Bee, The Twin Cities Pioneer Press, The Atlanta Constitution Journal, and lots of other American newspaper and TV stations, BBC in England, Le Monde in France and so on and so forth.
There is even coverage in Norwegian media:
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/70-r-siden-angrepet-p-Pearl-Harbour-6715914.html
http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/12/07/nyheter/utenriks/andre_verdenskrig/19314508/
http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/utenriks/sjokkangrepet-som-gjorde-usa-til-en-stormakt-3653797.html
Grin,
Stein
Re: No One Remembers - Ralph - 12-07-2011
I can report that Minnesota's Twin Cities media covered the remembrance very well with stories in the local newspapers and TV stations. I saw B&W clips of the attack on my morning TV news show along with a story about a 96 year old veteran who was at Pearl 70 years ago and journeyed to Hawaii for a ceremony today. I also saw reference to the History Channel airing a Pearl Harbor documentary tonight.
Ralph
Re: No One Remembers - Brakie - 12-07-2011
Another fact about the USS Arizona is when she blew up she wiped out gun crews on nearby ships,killed sailors with concussion and shrapnel,stalled Army and Navy trucks,jarred base homes and probably rupture the hull of the Vestal(a repair ship) that was moored along side.
Not only did the explosion kill 1,102 of Arizona's crew but,it took others with them.
By checking data and after battle reports they believe a total of 1,222 sailors died from the explosion including the 1,102 entomb in the Arizona.
Re: No One Remembers - Herc Driver - 12-07-2011
I promise to remember.
Although too young to have any personal recollection of the events, as a military man, Pearl Harbor is one of the most significant events in the modern world's history and needs to be remembered. Not just for the loss of life and military hardware, but for the impact to world events that the attack that day heralded. The wounds have healed between nations. But the scars on those who served then are daily reminders of a different day on far away battlefields, that in their memory, they may reluctantly revisit.
May God grant the survivors peace...and those who perished, rest.
Re: No One Remembers - Charlie B - 12-07-2011
I was born 2 years later. My dad enlisted just after Pearl, but was stationed on the Great Lakes until he shipped to the Pacific aboard an LST that he boarded at Ambridge, Pa and sailed down the rivers and through the Panama canal. His ship saw a little action, it wasn't commissioned until October of 44 so they were there a little late . I would imagine it would have been at least Jan. of 45 before they got anywhere near the war zone.
He never had much to say about the action he was involved in but did mention they had shot down 3 planes.
I don't remember anything about the war other then what we were taught, but I do remember Pearl Harbor Day, and our generation, and the ones after have our own sneak attack to remember.
70 years is a long time to remember, and time does heal some of the wounds, but the scars will remain for a few more decades.
It is for the folks that still have those scars that we always will remember.
We older folks have to remember that we have been around for some earth shattering events. Before most of us and in my parents generation was the Hindenburg disaster, which has been pretty much forgotten, "The War of the Worlds" also fell in there as well as Pearl Harbor and the Korean War.
Though neither of those events can compare to Pearl Harbor, or 911, they are very memorable to folks born in the early 1920's.
My generation remembers the launch of Sputnik, The Kennedy assassination, Man on the moon, Viet Nam, 2 shuttle disasters and 911.
We must remember to leave the history books in tact. History can't be changed by changing what is written. It truly would be a different world, and in my opinion, not a very nice one, had the outcome of WWII been different.
This hobby, and this forum unites all nationalities and proves that folks with different political views can co-exist.
So yes, the memory is fading with time, and as time goes by it will be no more a memory then the beginning or end of our civil war, but that doesn't diminish what our parents, grand parents and great grand parents went through to secure our place in this world.
I salute all the people that have served in the armed forces. They sacrifice so much and receive so little.
Charlie
Re: No One Remembers - Tyson Rayles - 12-08-2011
WWII was a very ugly time in history , and our military took a planet that was torn apart and made it whole again. God bless em' all!
Re: No One Remembers - Brakie - 12-08-2011
Tyson Rayles Wrote:WWII was a very ugly time in history , and our military took a planet that was torn apart and made it whole again. God bless em' all!
Actually our industrial might won the war since we was supplying several countries with war supplies to include tanks plus our own armed services.
Contrary to Hollywood's propaganda war movies we paid for each foot of ground we took from the Germans and for each Island we wrestle from the Japanese with the blood of our service men.
That we must never forget.
Re: No One Remembers - RobertInOntario - 12-08-2011
Being a history buff and being the son of a WW2 vet, I remembered it and made comment of it around our house. I want to make sure my young sons have some sense of history and the sacrifices that our fathers/parents & grandparents made in WW2. My uncle, also a WW2 vet who saw active combat, is still living at age 89. My Dad, who was a dispatch rider, often talked of his war years yet my Uncle seldom talks about it. There is a war memorial in my home town (Ingersoll) which has the names of my Dad & Uncle on it -- I recently took my boys to see that as well.