Pearl Harbor

[dgan]

It is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Let us remember and be thankful for those who died in war before they even knew they were in one.



"Pearl Harbor. Dawn, 7 December 1941. More than half of the United States Pacific Fleet, approximately 150 vessels and service craft, lay at anchor or alongside piers in Pearl Harbor. All but one of the Pacific fleet’s battleships were in port that morning, most of them moored to quays flanking Ford Island. By 10:00 a.m. the tranquil Sunday calm had been shattered, 21 vessels lay sunk or damaged, the fighting backbone of the fleet apparently broken. Smoke from burning planes and hangers filled the sky. Oil from sinking ships clogged the harbor.

Death was everywhere."

www.pearl-harbor.us/

[twyrch]

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech
December 8, 1941

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

[Dred]

This is one of those events that should never be forgotten no matter how much times elapses.

[dgan]

Here is a WWII story from someone I know on another board. His dad was 13 years old when he joined! Here's the story:

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Since this is a Pearl Harbor thread I will write a little about my dads experience in WWII. I wont get into to dates and some of facts may be a little off but 90% of what my dad tells me is correct. I'm not a geography expert so if any of the locations seem out of place or inaccurate please feel free to point them out. I also added a few exact quotes from one of the tapes I listened to to write this to try and make it a little more personal. If any of you have any questions you want me to ask my dad feel free to post them.

My dad was 13 when he joined the army and first set foot on the USS Phillipines Victory in the San Francisco harbor. Hes told me that the send off there was unimaginable, so many people came out to send them off. "My feeling of patriotism was so great and I felt so proud I had absolutly no fear at that point about going off to serve my country." That all changed as soon as they left the harbor and got out on the open seas of the Pacific.

The Pacific Ocean at that time was littered with Japanese subs hunting US warships and cargo ships. He says thats the first time he began to feel uneasy. The ship zig zaged its way to its first destination which was Hawaii for supplies and what I believe was a motivational tool used by the military. This is when my dad saw the aftermath of Pearl Harbor with his own eyes. He tells me "Son you cant imagine the sadness and extreme anger I felt seeing all those half sunken ships and twisted metal, complete devastation."

While in Hawaii the soldiers were allowed to go ashore where my dad and twelve other of his buddies all got matching tattoos, sparrows on their chests. Which I'll tell you now just kinda look like green splotches. Two of the solders that got their tats with my dad were close friends of his they were from Livermore which is very close to Stockton and they all went to boot camp together. He remembered them all saying how cool it was gonna be when they go back home and show off there matching tats.

From Hawaii they again zig zaged their way through the open seas to Saipan and various other islands before heading for what would be their objective, Okinawa.

They arrived off coast of Okinawa at night and the ships encountered an awful typhoon, my dad says he began to get really scared at that point. He says the ships were pitching and rolling terribly, "The bow of the ship would lift up hundreds and hundreds of feet and then it was like the water was just removed from underneth it and it would come slamming back down into the ocean." Sleep was virtually impossible but he managed to get a little. The next morning my dad says, "Bobby when I woke up I saw the greatest navel armada ever assembled, battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers, hospital ships, cargo ships you name it just as far as the eye could see."

The gun ships began to pound the coast line with artillery, to of course soften it up for the ground forces. He says this is when the Kamikazes began to appear. He tells me there was a hospital ship with a big red cross on it off to their starboard side he thinks was named Hope and a Kamikaze pilot flew down right into the center of the ship. He says they were swarming like bees and he was frightened out of his mind and remembers thinking, "God I have got to get off this ship before on of those dang things hits me."

They brought the landing craft to the side of the ship and the soldiers climbed down rope ladders to board them. He says the ship and the landing craft were just bouncing up and down and slamming into each other, "You'd get yourself as far down the ladder as you could and as soon as you thought you could make it you'd let go and drop into the landing craft. "You'd be damed if you were gonna get yourself between the landing craft and th ship cause it would kill ya." He goes on to tell me he watched this happen to one soldier and hes sure it happened to many others, "And at that time son it seemed like no one cared but thats just the way it was, people died all around you and there wasnt anything you could do."

He says he thinks there were 70 to 80 troops per landing craft and they headed for the shore, "Son you could here bullets hitting the front of that landing craft like you would'nt believe and I remember thinking at some point the front of this thing is going to open." Well it did open and well my dad has never seen Saving Private Ryan and he never will that movie is for us not him, but the way he describes what happened when the front of that landing craft opened was much the way they portrayed how it was at Normandy in the movie.

He wont go into too much detail about actual combat and I dont blame him but he does say it was very bloody and dirty. Sections of the the water washing ashore were red. And sadly he tells me that his saw both of the boys from Livermore die on the beach that day, he gets a little crackle in his throat when he says this. He goes on to say that the Japanese were very good soldiers and he had a great respect for them, "They had caves dug out of the coast line like a honeycomb and they would shoot and then hide back in the caves. We had to use anti-tank weapons and flamethrowers to kill em in those caves."

They fought on the beach for eight or nine hours and began to push them back inland. After two or three more days of fighting inland my dad says they had to evacuate his unit because they had taken so many losses and were almost completely decimated, "We wernt even a basic unit anymore I'd say probably more than 75% of our unit was wiped out."

So after he got back to San Francisco and his required 24 months were up he left the military for a few years probably to try and regain whatever childhood he lost. But after something like that I dont know how you could.

So in closing I would like remember those who lost their lives at Pearl Habor and to express my deep appreciation to all those who served their country in response. I have only to look to my couch to do so.
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He later said that his dad also went on to fight in Korea AND Vietnam! What an incredible story. Considering this battle was a first-hand demonstration of what a conventional invasion of Japan would mean in terms of loss of life, it was instrumental in leading to the decision to drop the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII. This one battle may have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers! Who says a 13 year old can't change the world?