7 december 1941

[starnbar]

for any member here who had a father in that war i would say to you thank you for your families sacrifice my dad fought in the Pacific his unit shot down the first jap planes of the war at Pearl Harbor 7th AA Corps 47th FS. Requiesce in pace to all who served

[Hdskip]

May this day never be forgotten.

[NSB]

A very good friend of mine was on board the USS Nevada that morning and witnessed the Arizona blowing up and sinking. His ship was the only ship that got up steam and tried to escape. They didn’t make it out to sea and were grounded on the way out. He went on to serve on the USS Card in the Atlantic for the remainder of the war, sinking German U Boats. Stan passed away two years ago and I think of him on this day with appreciation for his service and I’m proud to have had him for a friend.

[country gent]

Dad was to young but had 7 or 8 relatives that served. His Uncle Jim was an ambulance diver with Patton across Belgium.

[DougGuy]

If we would have known then, what we know now, I think Congress would have enacted MUCH Better rights for our veterans. It's embarrassing to see a veteran in a wheelchair detailing his struggles with the VA and his docs to get the treatment and meds he or she needs. It's insulting to see our veterans living on the street when our government is molly coddling refugees and placing their care and well being WAY ahead of our veterans.

We totally need a new Congress, one that isn't scared of being called names to restructure our priorities to take care of AMERICANS FIRST and everyone else later. And our veterans would be at the TOP of the list of priorities for housing, social assistance, retirement, treatment and access to doctors, business loans, college funds, etc. Instead we have this lamentable collection of richard craniums who only give a **** about their agenda and think wasting time and money to destroy a sitting President is okay and should take priority. SMDH.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I well remember as a child in the 50's, my parents still playing Red Foley's ''Smoke on the Water'' from 1943 on the phonograph.

''For there is a great destroyer made of fire-flesh-and steel rolling toward the foes of freedom-They'll go down beneath it's wheels.

There'll be nothing left but vultures to inhabit all that land-When our modern ships and bombers make a grave yard of Japan!''

https://youtu.be/gmZzX6aSud4

[Handloader109]

If we would have known then, what we know now, I think Congress would have enacted MUCH Better rights for our veterans. It's embarrassing to see a veteran in a wheelchair detailing his struggles with the VA and his docs to get the treatment and meds he or she needs. It's insulting to see our veterans living on the street when our government is molly coddling refugees and placing their care and well being WAY ahead of our veterans.

We totally need a new Congress, one that isn't scared of being called names to restructure our priorities to take care of AMERICANS FIRST and everyone else later. And our veterans would be at the TOP of the list of priorities for housing, social assistance, retirement, treatment and access to doctors, business loans, college funds, etc. Instead we have this lamentable collection of richard craniums who only give a **** about their agenda and think wasting time and money to destroy a sitting President is okay and should take priority. SMDH.I doubt it. We as a country have NEVER taken care of any group of veterans from any war.

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[missionary5155]

79 years and just a few more hours to 80 year anniversary of an Infamous Day in our Nations History.
I thank God also for every man & woman who decided never to surrender.
May our Republic always be filled with Patriots of Freedom.

[BJK]

Yeah, dittos. Politicians care about the military when they're needed and only because they're needed at that time, then afterward they flip them the bird. I'm allowed one visit to a VA Dr. once a year, and before covid I could use the gym and pool. Thanks for your service, now BOHICA. All the while claiming how much they like to care for the vets. That's only because they don't want to lose votes.

Not all of them are like that, but the preponderance.

[OS OK]

Here's Dad mustering out in 1945...a farmhand from Arkansas joining the USCG in 1942...ended up running Higgins Boat - Landing Craft LCVP's delivering Marines to the beaches in the South Pacific.
Till the day he died, he never would tell me about the war.

https://i.imgur.com/fODuRCj.jpg

[salpal48]

MY father and his two Brother Joined Before Pearl Harbor Date October 1941. By the time The war started My Family and later Extended family had appox 30 Men and woman Join.
That God for there Service

[marlin39a]

It’s been on my mind for days. I never forget. My dad went into the mess in 1942. He never talked about it, but I know the war bothered him for life.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I remember the day it happened. I had just turned seven. Our phone rang, my Moma answered, and I could tell she was upset. I started pulling on her dress asking what was wrong. She hung up the phone and said, the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor. I had no idea where that was or even who Japs were. My brother was working as a cab dispatcher and called her with the news. In '44 he joined the Merchant Marine and served in the Pacific and the Atlantic.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

If we would have known then, what we know now, I think Congress would have enacted MUCH Better rights for our veterans. It's embarrassing to see a veteran in a wheelchair detailing his struggles with the VA and his docs to get the treatment and meds he or she needs. It's insulting to see our veterans living on the street when our government is molly coddling refugees and placing their care and well being WAY ahead of our veterans.

We totally need a new Congress, one that isn't scared of being called names to restructure our priorities to take care of AMERICANS FIRST and everyone else later. And our veterans would be at the TOP of the list of priorities for housing, social assistance, retirement, treatment and access to doctors, business loans, college funds, etc. Instead we have this lamentable collection of richard craniums who only give a **** about their agenda and think wasting time and money to destroy a sitting President is okay and should take priority. SMDH.

Doud, Rudyard Kipling expressed those feelings in his poem, Tommy. It's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy how's your soul but it's a thin red line of heroes when the drums began to roll.

[panhed65]

One of my uncles was there on that day, serving in the air force. He died a few years ago, one of the last in my area of Pa that had been there.
Barry

[Minerat]

My dad joined out of high school in 1944 and served on a LST at Iow Jima and Okinawa he never talked about it. One time said they were torpedoed while on anchor in Okinawa and the let the ship sit on the bottom and continued to fight from the upper decks. After it was over they refloated it. He said he had just came on watch when the torpedo went into his birthing area. That's the only time he talked about the fighting.

[James Wisner]

My wife's Grandfather was on the USS California that morning. His was MIA for 10 days until the mess of all the destruction was somewhat sorted out enough. Like many he would never talk about it.

May they all rest in peace, and we should never forget.

J Wisner

[Gator 45/70]

Grandpa Maurice was at Pearl that day.

[fiberoptik]

Gramps on the Enterprise. Had the Aircraft carriers been in harbor I wouldn’t be typing this now. He always said he was Captain of the Head! Never understood till I joined the Corps...


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[Kraschenbirn]

I grew up among a family of WWII veterans.My father and all three of my uncles served in the European Theatre. On 7 December, 1941, my mother's eldest brother, was a freshly-commissioned 2nd Lt, in transit to join the 2nd Armored Div. at Ft. Benning and her younger brother was in newly enrolled in the Civilian Flight Training Program (CFTP) at his college; eventually flying P-51s after a stint as a ground school instructor. My father was a combat engineer; injured on a construction job in Tunisia, he taught welding at Ft. Belvoir for the remainder of the war. His brother completed 26 missions as a B17 flight engineer without a scratch...then broke an ankle in the crash of a training flight after returning stateside. All had their share of stories about their buddies, comic situations, and operational screw-ups but none, that I can recall, ever talked about their actual combat experiences.

Bill

[samari46]

My family had service members in WW1,WW2,Korea and Vietnam. When I got my separation papers while I was waiting for them at the Philadelphia naval shipyard. They were putting the USS New Jersey back into commission in a huge drydock. They wouldn't let us go below but were allowed on the main deck. One has to see those 16" naval rifles up close. When we finally got our papers, it was basically don't let the door hit you on the way out. Only time I went to the local VA office some grouchy old fart says "what do you want"?. I have a buddy with whom I served with. Never seen one person go through so much BS just trying to get a service connected disability regarding his hearing. I've never had trouble remembering December 7th 1941. In my opinion the Japanese got off way to lightly. Frank

[Idaho45guy]

My grandpa was Army in WWII, my dad was USMC in Vietnam, and I was Navy in Desert Storm. None of us got along, lol.

I wore a Hawaiian shirt and my Navy-issue ballcap for a ship I was on to work today. Nobody got it or remembered what day it was. Not a single person. Sad.

[gunther]

Dad was legally blind in his right eye, and got drafted anyway. He made tech sergant in the motor pool at Ft Benning by the time it was over. An uncle was a teacher in N California; got drafted, became a 90 day wonder. Was in graves registration with Patton's army, until he got sent out under fire (Belgium)to recover bodies by a superior looking to impress his boss. He couldn't get through a metal dectector, wore a leg brace, and had a staph infection in his back. And a captain's full pay until he died in the mid 1990's. He taught math in a small town 30 minutes north of Sacramento, where there was a VA Hospital. They never stopped helping. And he had a sense of humor I won't forget.

[ulav8r]

My wife had two uncles on the Arizona, both survived the war. Some time after Pearl they were stationed on separate ships. Another was on a ship that the Japs sunk, he named his son after the ship that rescued him.

My dad was drafted, went in the cavalry. Spent his first year as Fort Riley learning to ride the cavalry way. When they decided to disband the cavalry he was switched to infantry and sent to Europe just after the fighting ended. After returning home he was put into inactive reserve. On his last day, he got orders to report foe Korean duty. About 30 days after his time in Korea was to have ended, replacements had not shown up. He was driving a 2 1/2 ton truck and hit a landmine. Spent 6 months in the hospital. Died about 8 years ago, still had shrapnel under his kneecap.

[jimlj]

My dad was on the USS Portland. They left Pearl a couple days before the attack. He never talked about his experience, so I grew up thinking the Portland sailed around missing all the action. I mentioned this to an old navy veteran. He just shook his head and told me the Portland didn’t miss much, and was involved in the major battles of the pacific. A year or two before dad died I got him to open up a little about the war. The vast majority of people have no idea of the sacrifice our veterans gave for this country.

[rbuck351]

My dad joined the army in 1932 in an engineering battalion. Not too long before his company went to France, he was sent to OCS for the 90 day wonder treatment and put in charge of a recon platoon. When they went to Europe they were assigned to the 3rd Army, 4th armored infantry division, 24 armored engineers battalion. His job was to stay ahead of the 4th armored and to get details of the roads, bridges and enemy positions back to headquarters. The 4th armored was Pattons spearhead division so dad and his driver were able to be in front of the front for a good deal of Pattons drive to Germany. I was lucky in that dad was very willing to tell me about many of his experiences during the war. He was on an army rifle team in 1936 and 1937 and won the engineers individual in 1937. He earned 2 silver stars a bronze star an got three or four purple hearts for minor wounds. I believe the war was something he was put on earth to be a part of. He was very proud of what he did and I believe rightly so.

I think it's to bad other WWII vets were not able to talk about there part of the war with their family as I believe it would be good for them to hear first hand the horrors of war. I remember telling my dad I was going to join the army when I got out of high school. His response was an instant "No you're not". He then said that he and his father (Spanish American War) had done enough for their country and I was not going to enlist. Anyway they are not called the greatest generation without reason.

[WRideout]

My uncle Homer from Glenpool OK was an army medic in the European Theater. After VE day, he was put on a troop ship and went through the Panama Canal to finish the war in the Pacific Theater.

Wayne

[beezapilot]

When I was a kid there were a lot of Vets of WWII around town. Most of them never talked about it much. A neighbor down the was a Marine Officer on Suribachi, never knew it until long after I was grown and gone from town, when he was working on an Iwo memorial set up in CT. https://iwojimamemorial.org/ . Another of my father's friends was Navy in the Pacific, he said he "got to go swimming twice" as two ships he was on went under. Walking with giants, great men.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I just finished watching Ken Burns's Vietnam documentary and it reminded me how awful it seemed as a 10 year old. Then I realized my Dad was 10 in 1940 so he grew up with a war raging too. I will have to ask him about it while I still can.

[Rick Hodges]

My father served with the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII. He went swimming at least once when his ship, the USS Astoria, went down. The only person that I know he ever talked about it with was his brother-in-law, my uncle, a Korean war infantryman. I was supposed to be asleep but overheard them talking.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Growing up there were so very many WWII vets around. One guy at our church was a Norwegian resistance member who was caught and sent to Bergan Belsen concentration camp. Because he and his fellows were considered a "good race" they were not starved or brutalized by the Nazi but still suffered witnessing what was happening to the Jews. My wife had an Uncle who came back from Iwo Jima who was never right in the head afterward. The numbers who seved in WWII were staggering as were the numbers who perished in certain battles.