Harter66
12-06-2011, 03:26 PM
Tonight I will hoist a drink,in deference to our cousins across the pond (like 303 guy), to some family,2700 American men and women and a hand full of Japanese sailors and pilots.
If you want to blame somebody for Pearl Harbor I'm the guy. Not actually me but my 3rd great grandmothers 1st cousin ,William McKinnley he annexed Guam,the Phillipenes and Hawii.
Next on my list in no real order are Bill Mitchell , his sister Virginia and wife Nora. Virginia was an RN and "flight attendent" for Pan Am based out of Honolulu from about 4/41 and was home for a pre-holiday week off duty the 1st week in December. As a nurse she was drafted into hospitle duty instantly and didn't fly again for nearly a year. Bill was my grandfather and a Civil Service electritian from Nashville Tn that was trasnfered to Hickem or Wheeler field (I can never keep them straight) in June of 41' .Nora Louise aka Toppy followed Bill ,her husband, in November. Bill aquired a taste for Scotch while there through the war and on into 49', so tonight I will hoist a shot from his last bottle of Jonny Walker Black lable.
Bill was walking their dog and had stopped near a palm tree on the beach that Sunday for a smoke ,while Toppy slept late that Sunday morning. Bill recalled that "it was damned early for the Army to be flying . On Sunday no less.....................SOB those aren't ours!" BOOM! Toppy spent 6hr huddled behind 2 matresses against an inside wall of their apartment just a few blocks from the main gate at Pearl. She spent 6 more days not knowing if Bill had survived or not in the gym at 1 of the schools. Bill spent 2 days in a boat in the Harbor then was put on restoring power to the alternate airfields. He also didn't know if his wife or sister had survived. Aunt Ginny ,Virginia never related much about anything before the USO Christmas party that year except that it was "a horror no civilized person should have to endoure" w/"so much blood and shattered bodies".
I don't believe I will elaborate on the servicemen caught unaware
,many still in their bunks when that 1st shell exploded. I pray those 2700 may rest in peace and that their lives are not forgotten .
The Japanese lost men that day too . Some were no doubt called the Emporiers heros . They were sailors and aviators serving their nation following orders just as ours today. They however set events in motion that will never be undone , that left scares that will never be healed or erased.
May God bless them 1 and all.
If you want to blame somebody for Pearl Harbor I'm the guy. Not actually me but my 3rd great grandmothers 1st cousin ,William McKinnley he annexed Guam,the Phillipenes and Hawii.
Next on my list in no real order are Bill Mitchell , his sister Virginia and wife Nora. Virginia was an RN and "flight attendent" for Pan Am based out of Honolulu from about 4/41 and was home for a pre-holiday week off duty the 1st week in December. As a nurse she was drafted into hospitle duty instantly and didn't fly again for nearly a year. Bill was my grandfather and a Civil Service electritian from Nashville Tn that was trasnfered to Hickem or Wheeler field (I can never keep them straight) in June of 41' .Nora Louise aka Toppy followed Bill ,her husband, in November. Bill aquired a taste for Scotch while there through the war and on into 49', so tonight I will hoist a shot from his last bottle of Jonny Walker Black lable.
Bill was walking their dog and had stopped near a palm tree on the beach that Sunday for a smoke ,while Toppy slept late that Sunday morning. Bill recalled that "it was damned early for the Army to be flying . On Sunday no less.....................SOB those aren't ours!" BOOM! Toppy spent 6hr huddled behind 2 matresses against an inside wall of their apartment just a few blocks from the main gate at Pearl. She spent 6 more days not knowing if Bill had survived or not in the gym at 1 of the schools. Bill spent 2 days in a boat in the Harbor then was put on restoring power to the alternate airfields. He also didn't know if his wife or sister had survived. Aunt Ginny ,Virginia never related much about anything before the USO Christmas party that year except that it was "a horror no civilized person should have to endoure" w/"so much blood and shattered bodies".
I don't believe I will elaborate on the servicemen caught unaware
,many still in their bunks when that 1st shell exploded. I pray those 2700 may rest in peace and that their lives are not forgotten .
The Japanese lost men that day too . Some were no doubt called the Emporiers heros . They were sailors and aviators serving their nation following orders just as ours today. They however set events in motion that will never be undone , that left scares that will never be healed or erased.
May God bless them 1 and all.