Pearl Harbor Day

[Tom W.]

A day that will live in infamy.....

[catmandu]

Those involved are getting fewer and fewer.
It’s up to us to remember and teach those who don’t.
May God take care of us all.

Paul in WNY

[abunaitoo]

For the first time in many years, no survivors at the ceremonies this morning.
Lots of tourist.

[rockrat]

Not surprised no survivors at the Arizona memorial. 77th. anniversary, so the youngest would be around 93 or 94. Only 5 left.

[Harter66]

Sent the girls to school with this .

Tasha and Eva Hart's family connection to Pearl Harbor and December 7 , 1941 as told by their grandfather .

My 2nd Great grandmother's name was Nancy Allison , her aunt shared her name. The elder Nancy married William Mckinley in 1829 her son born in 1843 William Mckinley would become the 25th President of the US. He served in the Union Army for the duration of the Civil War w/the 23rd Ohio Infantry at 1 point w/Major Ruthaford Hays . Elected in 1896 was the CIC for the Spainish American war ''winning'' Guam,the Phillipenes and Puerto Rico. In 1898 he signed annexation papers for those and the Republic of Hawaii.

James Reed served as a CSA scout 1863-64. He married Orvillia Hoover and had 10 children together. James was registered as a Cherokee Native American in 1873 . Leora James Reed the 7th or 8th child born April 28 1912 near Winslow Arkansas w/her twin sister Elnora. Their survival is wonder enough w/both parents being half Native American an a full blood mid-wife. Lee was my Grandmother . She lived a colorful life. She married an Army vet Joseph Hart in Chicago in 1927. They divorced in 39' after my Dads birth. She married again in 40 in Hawthorne Nv. Going to Oakland Ca not long after. She went to work as a welder, after getting a welders certification , in the Port Chicago shipyard until about June or July of 1941.

By know you're thinking AAAANNNNDDD??

Well, Virginia and William Wright were Nancy's great grandchildren and my grandfather and great aunt.

Leora was at least in the shipyard w/ships that were at Pearl 72yr ago.

William was in the USN 1937-39 then signed on w/Civil Service . He married Nora Louise ''Toppy'' Hughes in the fall of 1940.

Virginia had gone to school and hired on to Pan Am in 1939 . In those days a flight attendant had to be at least a registered nurse. She was based in 1940 Honolulu and flew the entire Pacific from LA to Seattle and west to Hong Kong.

William was given a list of assignment choices 1 of which was Public Works for Wheeler and Hickum Fields and the Naval Yard at Pearl Harbor. He left Nashville about the 10th of June 41' Toppy joined him in Pearl City in November.

William was out for the morning walk down to the beach ,about 12 blocks from their apt, he was an avid fisherman and was thinking a day on the beach for them and a few casts w/cut bait might produce some sunfish. He'd paused under a palm to put his shoes on and heard the familiar engine drone thinking ''the Air corps is out early especially on a Sunday''......... It was 5 days before he would know if his sister or wife had survived. During the next 3 days he would ride boats as a survivor recovery man...... mostly he just recovered the dead . On the 10th he was released to his shop to continue pulling new power lines in to pad up the spliced band-aided lines for the Navy Yard and the airfield .
Toppy awake to the 1st explosions and breaking glass. She pulled the bed up against the inside wall closet door. And padded the walls w/pillows and waited ..............11hr later the 1st patrol for survivors hammered the door and gave her directions....more directives to go to the highschool gym. She would spend 10 days there seeing William just twice. ''I was terrified,not knowing who or what was happening . All I could do was to go to an inside corner and pad myself all around as best as I could.''

Virginia was rousted from bed , being it was her off time from flight duty , by the noise . Shortly after her apartment was filled with injured and worse as it became a triage .
Her plane was pressed into service and stripped from a luxury trans-Pacific aircraft to cargo/Medevac airplane . She was drafted into Hospital service for 21 days of 18hr days. Imagine the shift from ,airsick and altitude sickness to meatball amputation assistant. It would be 16 days before she would stumble onto William and learn that he and Toppy had come out untouched by the attack.

Not 1 of them ever received formal recognition nor have they been eligible for any Pearl Harbor Survivor privileges.
It is also interesting to note the ''unintended'' consequences of 1 man signing a single document , and the potential for those to effect 1's own family for over a century.

William has been gone since 12/25/17-12/17/94
Virginia passed in 2008
Toppy passed away in 2014 in assisted living having taken a 5 generation picture w/1 daughter,her only grandson,3 greats and GG grands.
Leora passed 12/14/2007 out living 3 husbands and 10 siblings including her twin sister by nearly 10yr and her ''baby'' brother by almost 5 yr.

That's my story about today 12/7 has effected my life and who I am.

[45workhorse]

Ask yougins what happened today, they would have to look it up.. AFTER giving you a deer in headlights look.....

[shooterg]

I did not see this before I posted a bit ago. . Good to see others remember. Doubt it is even in the current history books in use !

[Minerat]

Just asked my 14 year old grand daughter what to day was and she said Friday. Had to explain what happened in 1941, The largest school district in Colorado did not even mention it in her High School history class today! What a bunch of losers I pay taxes to employ. It's time for me to quit or I'll say something inappropriate.

[abunaitoo]

Even here, the schools just gloss over it.
Many kids don't know why it's so special.
I would have thought it would be required here.
I'm guessing many teachers here don't even know what happened on December 7, 1941.
Very sad.

Did you know that oil still leaks from the USS Arizona?????
They call it Black Tears from the entombed.
Did you also know there was a environmental group that tried to stop it???
They claimed it was polluting the environment, and needed to be stopped.
I guess they were told where to go.
Never heard anything about it since.

[DCP]

What a disservice the schools do, not teaching history or civics.
No wonder there are so many snowflakes

[Harter66]

I printed the above with a couple family pictures . My granddaughters took it to school Thursday . The third grade teacher decided that Friday the history part of the day would be dedicated to the day with the introduction being the history above .

The 6th grader was too cool for that I guess .

I doubt that our last school would have embraced such an opportunity to look at a significant event with a local attachment .