12/7: a day that will live in infamy, until we all forget

[KJMUNC]

Has faded from the headlines every year and is all but forgotten at this point. Not a political thread, but a reminder to take a minute and reflect on those who gave all so that we could have things like this silly message board about bikes.

[jamesdak]

AMEN!

[HenryA]

Thank you.

[572cv]

Indeed.
Twenty one years after the horrible sneak attack on Pearl, after concluding a war against democracy, and another one, as well as the awakening of the civil rights movement, huge government efforts like the interstate highway system, Kennedy was President after Eisenhower, and there was a lot of optimism for America to realize its promise of a prosperous, resilient and egalitarian democracy.

We are twenty one years after the horrible sneak attack on America on 9/11, after which the country has gone through radical changes in the country, both positive and negative, attacks on democracy, on the order of the world, a Global Pandemic, dramatic Climate Change, and yet, at this moment, there remains cautious optimism about our future.

I’m grateful to our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, who recognized the threat and valued their country, natives and immigrants alike, and stood their ground at Pearl and beyond. I hope it all leads us to a better world, maybe even one safer for bicycles.

[Tz779]

My dad fought in the Pacific theatre so I never forget. But I appreciate your reminder.
-Robin

[azrider]

YES.......THANK YOU.......

My Grandpa Melvin Corbit Saucier served in the Army and once it was established he needed hernia surgery was kicked out. Fast forward 5 years and he married love of his life on December 7th. My Grandpa later said that "two world wars started that day" .

But against his new wife's wishes, he couldn't stand the thought of doing nothing and enlisted in the Navy and served on a Destroyer the Douglas H Fox. I was named after that ship and was given his middle name which is now my sons first name.

Rest in Peace to the 2,403 Americans that died that day and thank you to those who've served then and now.

Grandpa Bud

[IMG][/IMG]

[aaronf]

Thanks Kerry for starting this thread.

My grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor.
His ship, the USS Honolulu, was docked and hit. Basically had the bow destroyed.

He always told me that it was not so bad since most of the crew was off the ship and the front was just supplies/storage anyway.
I'd like to fully believe that but he definitely did not talk much about the war so I think he may have been obscuring a bit, which I now understand to be fairly common among that generation.

He passed when I was 23-yrs old. He would have been the same age then. I can't possibly imagine living through that at that age or ever, really. I'm 47 now.
I'd liked to have talked to him about it more now that I have some maturity and perspective, but that wasn't meant to be.

Went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial around 2008 and was (unexpectedly) brought to tears. Amazing what those folks went through.

[wc1934]

Truly - The Greatest Generation!!!

[metalheart]

My dad and his brother were on the USS Patterson DD 392 12/7/1941. The Patterson was credited with downing one Japanese plane attacking the USS Curtis. My mother's brother's Charles and Mac were at Hickham field. My dad never talked about it and I didn't know he was at Pearl Harbor until well after I left home but just before he died we talked briefly about it. He served on the Patterson throughout the war, 13 battle stars including Savo Island and the rest of the island hopping campaigns, including Okinawa where the image below was taken of the Omani Bay that was hit by a kamakize attack. Tough men in tough times....

[GregL]

Five of my uncles served during WWII, all in the US Army. Two served stateside, one in Alaska (including the Aleutian campaign), and three in Europe. Two of the three in Europe served in front line operations. Somehow, their units were in the same location on December 24, 1944. They shared Christmas Eve rations and letters sent from home. I am incredibly grateful for their service and for the stories they shared with me. I will honor their memories by passing down the stories to future generations.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention my aunt’s contribution to the war effort. She was a brilliant PhD student in chemistry at Yale during WWII. The war effort meant that taboos against women in the workplace had to be swept aside. Aunt Eva became (according to family lore) the first and youngest woman chemistry instructor at Yale. Her students were young officers preparing to work with munitions.

Greg

[dave thompson]

I was stationed at Hickam AFB starting in 1961. There were, and still are battle scars in many of the buildings on that base. The hanger I worked in still has the blackened and twisted girders that were left in a section during its repair after the attack.

The PacAF headquarters building at Hickam.

[Seramount]

my dad served in the Navy as a Pharmacist Mate 1c on an LST in the Pacific.

as others have said, he spoke little of his time in the war. I was mostly unaware of any details of his military service until well after I had left home. altho his ship saw little combat action, he did recount once instance where it was strafed once by a Japanese plane.

here's a pic of his ship being launched from the ways at the Dravo Shipyard in Pittsburgh, PA.

[gone]

Not to derail the very worthy topic but "never" is an awfully long time and as the OP point out only lasts in the public memory until those who experienced the event first hand and a generation after are alive.

Articles written at the time of the New York ferry disaster said it "would never be forgotten".

How many people here even know about it?

[verticaldoug]

Slight tangent, but WW2 theme. The last of the dam busters has died at 101.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-aged-101.html

[LouDeeter]

December 7 in Hawaii was December 8 in the Philippines. My Dad was a 2LT with the Army Infantry when the Japanese attacked the two airfields there, Clark & Nichols Fields. Four months later, he and over 70,000 other American and Filipino soldiers would be captured as Bataan fell. It would be another month before the island fortress of Corregidor would fall. And the rest as they say, is history.