80th Anniversary

[gasman]

Just remembering “ The Day that will live in infamy” and all the men who lost their lives on Dec 7th , 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor. My Dad joined the Navy when he turned 18. I’m sure many on the board have had family members who also served. Thanks to all of them.

[B4_Ford]

Here’s an article about one of the last living survivors that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know. My son worked as a respite caregiver for him throughout the pandemic. 101 years old and still going strong.

https://people.com/human-interest/on...WcOTVJD50uEl-E

[gasman]

Very nice story. Sounds like a wonderful man.

[azrider]

My grandpa was honorably discharged from the Army in summer of '41. He had gotten a hernia and the Army basically told him they didn't want to do the surgery so they said "you're done". He went home, had the surgery and married his longtime sweetheart a few months later on December 6, 1941. We all know what happened the next day.

When word got back that a buddy from his small town was lost during the attack that was final straw and he enlisted in Navy. Was shipped out just weeks after he was married and served on a couple of different ships before landing on a Destroyer, the USS Douglas H Fox. Douglas is my first name and my middle name is from that same Grandpa which we've now given to our son as a first name.

I always remember this day because of him and the stories he always used to tell.

Much love and respect for anyone who's served our country.

[madsciencenow]

+1 on love and respect for anyone who has served this country.


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[clyde the point]

(X) like
Great story! And how things have evolved in 80 yrs!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by gasman

Just remembering “ The Day that will live in infamy” and all the men who lost their lives on Dec 7th , 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor. My Dad joined the Navy when he turned 18. I’m sure many on the board have had family members who also served. Thanks to all of them.

Indeed..Even after the Japanese attack many US citizens wanted to stay out of the war. That attack fundamentally changed the very design of the USN, and the 'design' of the navies throughout the world.

My Dad was 21 On December 7th, and I never did get a sense of what he did..he was in the USN..then USA AirCorps(got out then re enlisted in the USA after the war), then the USAF after 1948...Didn't talk about it much.

My wife's mother's husband was a USN medic with a USMC unit on IwoJima..scary stuff.

[jamesdak]

My dad was a WWII vet too but I know next to nothing about his service. He did earn European and Ryukus Island campaign badges so he was at both fronts.

This is about the only war picture I have of him and I've never been able to ID where it was taken.

[Seramount]

my dad was a USN Pharmacists Mate 1st class and served in the Pacific on a Landing Ship Tank (LST) aka Large Slow Target.

altho his convoy saw only limited direct combat, it was strafed by an enemy seaplane near Truk. he attended to some serious medical emergencies which included a sailor involved in a boiler explosion on a light cruiser and a Marine who was bayonetted in the stomach by his buddy while playing with a souvenir Japanese rifle.

he said he was seasick for 3 years and never acclimated to being at sea. I have a photo of his ship being launched in a blizzard at the Dravo Shipyard in Pittsburgh PA and another of it going thru the Panama Canal.

I was in my teens before he ever divulged any details of his time in the military. wish I would have gotten more details about his life aboard ship but he always seemed reluctant to discuss those times.

[Spaghetti Legs]

My grandfather was a Chief (SK), mostly in the Pacific. He enlisted in fall of '41, served briefly on a destroyer and the USS North Carolina in the Atlantic. He served most of the war on the USS Independence, a light carrier. He told sailor stories but never said much about combat, although his ship saw plenty of it, including Battle of Leyte Gulf.

His one story that sticks out:

The fighter aircraft on the Independence specialized in nighttime operations. They were approaching some sort of milestone, something like 1000 accident free landings and the CO wanted to celebrate. For #1000 they did a ceremonial daytime flight. The Captain and officers were decked out in their choker whites with swords, a big cake was prepared, and Butch O'Hare (the airport is named after him) was launched to make the historic landing. He flew a couple of circles around the ship and on the landing, his gear broke and the plane crashed. The Captain drew his sword and hacked the cake in half.

Somewhere I have pictures, his dog tags, telegram he sent home when he got back to SF at war's end. This reminds me I need to actively preserve those memories.

[dave thompson]

I joined the USAF in 1961 and after all the tech schooling was assigned to Hickam AFB in Hawaii. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived at Hickam was that the headquarters building was pockmarked what appeared to be bullet holes and the hangar my workshop was in had a corner that had twisted and deformed girders. When I asked about these ‘features’ it was explained that they happened on December 7th, 1941 and were left so we will never forget. A mere 20 years separated me from that event. Quite sobering.

[Keith A]

Salute to all of our military personal, both past and present. Especially to those that were lost in the Pearl Harbor attack. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be there on that day.