Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Remembering Pearl Harbor


Gabe Pressman, in New York, was having an afternoon dinner with his family.  He was 17 and would go to war two years later.

Harold Whitehouse was 13 in Portsmouth; he describes the war effort in one of many American cities.

Walter Yablolnski, a Pearl Harbor survivor, remembers the day clearly.

Veteran David Breedlove was serving in Hawaii when the attack occurred.

Walter Stimic, another Pearl Harbor vet, also remembers.

Aaron Rapking was on an Army base in Texas when the attack occurred; he and two other vets recall the day.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is still hanging in.

Survivor Dorwin Lamkin visits the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

Pearl Harbor today.

3 comments:

Mike Thiac said...

Pat

Some good friends are calling their father on this day that will live in infany and saying "Happy Birthday Dad..."

Mr C. was born on Dec 7, 41 and has never lived that down.

Don't know if you saw this on Fox this morning but thre are about 3000 Pearl Harbor vets left and are using computers to keep in touch.

Hutch Phillips said...

Because of Pearl Harbor Day my father, at age 17, was inspired to join the military so he could go fight for his country. Because he was a minor he had to have parental consent and his mother wouldn't give it so his was going to go join the Canadian Air Force which had no age requirement.
My father ended up in Victoria, Texas, as a fighter pilot trainer until he broke his back in a parachuting incident. He was furious that he never got to go to Europe or the Pacific to participate in the war effort but the whole experience created his love for flying and his patriotism which were amongst the most important things in his life and gave him tremendous joy.
I can just hear his opinion of how we should handle Osham Bin Laden, the Muslim militants, and the whole 911 incident.
He, along with Colonel Roy Miller, are people that come to my mind on days like today. They are great patriots that would do anything for their country.

RIP William H. (Hutch) Phillips Jr

Mike Thiac said...

Hutch

Have you ever seen the show "War in the Pacific"....old BW films of the war with Japan..one episode was with a Marine who was asked how he got into the USMC. His answer was "Like every other man in town I went to join the Army on Dec 8....the line for the Army was around the block....the line for the Marines only had 6 guys in it...I hate lines so I went there"