Dec 7, 1941

[outerlimits]

70 years tomorrow

Edited December 6, 2011 by outerlimits

[Tizzle]

70 years today

I thought it was tomorrow?

My Grandpa always called to remind me each year but he had a different name for the day. The "Greatest Generation" sure makes you realize what's wrong with this country today, too bad they're almost all gone.

Semper Fi Brothers

[Reshoot]

Being a veteran myself, I will NEVER forget (tomorrows anniversary).

[Corey]

Lot of lives got changed 70 years ago....

[moverfive]

While I was in Pearl Harbor, my office was on the water front and each morning at 7:55 on December 7 a jet would make a simulated bombing run over the Memorial. The first time I experienced this, my reaction was - why is a plane flying so low over the harbor? And that reaction reminded me of a similar scene depicted in "Tora Tora Tora" as a couple of guys started flag ceremony.

But a funny story about the Memorial. The entrance to the Naval base and the Memorial are very close to each other and thus easily confusing tourists, especially for foreign visitors. This story filters back to me while a couple of my guys were on temporary duty assigned to the main base (doing gate guard and other security type things):

An older Japanese couple mistakenly comes to the Naval Base entrance and is promptly stopped. When the gentleman asked the gate guard, "Excuse me, where is the Arizona?" The gate guard replies, "Right where you left it."

The thing that most amazed me about Pearl Harbor - how small it is. When I think about how many ships were in the Harbor that day (and then knowing the carriers were not there), I would look at the harbor and just wonder how in the heck that many ships and Japanese planes fit into that small area......and no wonder the Japanese sunk so many ships, they couldn't miss!

For those that haven't been there, I have attached a picture from the mid-90's that might help put things into perspective and possibly help folks get a better appreciation of things when they watch movies and documentaries on Pearl Harbor.

The very left and lower portions of the picture is the 'surface' side and SURFPAC's house (commander of naval surface forces) is just beyond the left of the pic (remember the scene in 'Tora Tora Tora' when he walks out of his house and sees the damage in the harbor). The middle section is the submarin base, and then just above that is submarine maintenance area and tons of warehouses and such. And then in the upper portion of the pic, that is Ford Island.....and if you look hard enough, you can see the infamous tower (left middle part of the island). And close to the right tip of Ford Island, the USS Arizona - the little white spot with something appearing to be attached to the right side of it.

Also of note - the fuel tanks. Not sure if these are the exact same locations in 1941, but it gives you some perspective as to how close they are to the harbor and how in the heck did they not think to hit them?

[XRe]

[MarkCO]

Thanks to all who served, serve, and made the ultimate sacrifice.

[LPatterson]

Those who do not remember history will be doomed to repeat it. The words were "This is a day that will live in infamy".

[Biloxi23]

My uncle, my mother's brother, was a Marine Private at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was later wounded during during the assault on Pelilieu and again on Okinawa. He used to tell me stories about his experiences in the Pacific during WWII. He was a small unassuming, meek appearing, small statured man. And he was one of my heroes. On the day I enlisted in teh Marines, I called him before I told my dad. He was the person that really taught me that there is no shame in being afraid, but a real man does his duty in spite of the fear. I miss him. Semper Fi, Uncle Ralph.

[XRe]

Those who do not remember history will be doomed to repeat it. The words were "This is a day that will live in infamy".

Wrong....

- watch the speech there... "... Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked...". You can also see a draft of the speech here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Day-of-infamy-draft1-page1.jpg

[LPatterson]

Those who do not remember history will be doomed to repeat it. The words were "This is a day that will live in infamy".

Wrong....

- watch the speech there... "... Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked...". You can also see a draft of the speech here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Day-of-infamy-draft1-page1.jpg

I stand corrected. I was paraphrasing from memory which was a year and a half old at the time. Shortly after that my uncle Allen was killed in the Pacific instead of dieing at home in Missouri.

[Mark R]

Got this in an email a few months ago...thought I'd share it...

A very different and interesting conclusion of the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes.

We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes.

I went into a small gift shop to kill time.

In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C.

He was paged and told there was a phone call for him.

When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet.

He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941.

There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked.

As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"

Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.

Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?"

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?"

Nimitz explained:

Mistake number one: the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

Mistake number two: when the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships.

If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow everyone of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America.

And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three: Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is on top of the ground in storage tanks five miles away over that hill.

One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.

That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make, or God was taking care of America.

I've never forgotten what I read in that little book.

It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it.

In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredricksburg, Texas -- he was a born optimist.

But anyway you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job.

We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.

There is a reason that our national motto is, "IN GOD WE TRUST."

[Sarge]

Nice picture. Nice to know we still pile one ship on top of another these days as well.

Did you all hear or read about the flap at the school where a very prominent US citizens kids go to school? The menu for Dec 7th was mostly Asian fare!

I heard a DJ on the radio defend it by saying the schedule probably just said,"Wednesday the 7th". I can't read, hear, say or thing the words December 7th without understanding the significance. Ugh!! I give up on human kind.