Today
 

A day that definitely went "Down in Infamy"

Remembering...

"Let's Remember Pearl Harbor" to quote the song that is etched in MY memory.

was on my mind this morning...remember PEARL.......thanks for posting it..... charlie

My first girlfriend's grand dad was the commander of Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. The family (generations of Annapolis grads) steadfastly maintained that intelligence about the impending attack was not shared with Admiral Kimmel. Needless to say, they weren't real fond of FDR.

Pearl Harbor
 

I often joke with people that I might be the last person that remembers Pearl Harbor. I was 5 years old and my father had just gotten a job inspecting 03A3's at Remington in Ilion. We lived in a third floor apartment in Herkimer. A little after lunch time we began hearing about the attack on the radio. We went outside; it was a sunny but cool December day and Main street was full of people asking each other what they had heard.

Best, Austin

You know it's funny, watching TV last night, local news NBC news, no mention of Dec 7. Looked at the cable channels figured there would be a lot of WWII movies etc, "None" I guess it's now old news, just to be forgotten...... Sorry for the rant. Eric

In this era of 'instant gratification' the news media caters primarily to the X-generation and if something doesn't affect them directly it loses significance. Blame it on the education system too... severely lacking in American history and world history.
For we, children of "The Greatest Generation" and the surviving heroes of WW II... we remember.

Thank You All members of our Armed Forces - both past and present.

Just wondered if any of the networks remembered what Dec 7 was....... Sad day indead.

December 7th was also John Dunkle's birthday..

Thanks Charlie. John doesn't happen to be 71 years old does he?..... That would explain a lot.

The bad news.... Tomorrow, I going to ban you from this Forum for posting my Birthday, Herzog.....

The good news.... By tomorrow, at my age - I'll have forgotten that I was going to ban you from this forum...

;)

Seriously -Thanks Charlie..!!

:cheers:

From my end of the telescope, I'm just a year older... Not a year wiser, though???

JD

(BTW - Dean - you know I will get even with you for your post above, right??? :eek: )

and John is a mere 54 yrs young :) Certainly not a year wiser but his coffers are filled with more borrowed stuff. Whose telescope do you have?

:whistle:

Hey John, Happy 80th.....and many more.....:bigbye:

John, Don't worry about that high noon stuff..Have you seen Dean shoot lately?

I just saw this, its not about WW-II or Dec 7th but I think it is relevant to what took place back then.

http://www.nragive.com/ringoffreedom/index.html

A very great video Robin! As well - you CAN embed the direct video link into the PGCA forum as a post like this (it's a little code hack I did a while back ;) ):



:cheers:

John

My God...

Thanks Robin

I think I got somethin' in my eye....

Not to take anything away from those who wear the uniform today the attack on 12/7/41 should not be diluted by other events and tributes. Our country was sucker punched in a sneak attack by a foriegn power plunging the USA into the largest scale war the US has ever seen. The soldiers, sailors and marines fought in far away places without benefit of any modern conveniences we now take for granted. The veterans of those campaigns endured unimaginable hardship including being cutoff from any real contact with family and loved ones. They fought in places like Peleliu where it was 115 degrees and the Marines had no water to drink. The charged across the open airfield into the face of Japanese machine guns. Although they prevailed they were mowed down like it was Picketts charge. In the end the Marines suffered a 60% casualty rate on Peleliu. The initial campaigns in the pacific were fought with obsolescent equipment including clothing. We also fought a merciless enemy, Bataan Death March, Kamakazi's etc.

The attack on Pearl Harbor is significant to us as it put the last coffin nail into the production of the Parker gun as Remington shifted to war time production.

Although it is drama if you have not seen the 10 part mini series "Pacific" you should. It is the counterpart to Band of Brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVpt5ESWgXU



[Edited by John D. to embed the YT video]

Another amazing story from WWII Pacific theatre is the Battle of Leyte Gulf, particularly the sacrafice of the destroyer USS Johnston whose captain, half Cherokee Indian, was awarded the Medal of Honor postumously. His sacrificial attack was followed by similiar lopsided fight by the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts. The captains of these two ships threw themselves and their ships headfirst into the teeth of Japanese cruisers and battleships to save their carriers after they were jumped by the japanese force. Braver men have never lived.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc8-e...eature=related

"A large Japanese fleet has been contacted. They are fifteen miles away and headed in our direction. They are believed to have four battleships, eight cruisers, and a number of destroyers. This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." Captain Evans USS Johnston to his crew after turning his destroyer along with the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts towards the enemy force.