Take a moment today to remember Pearl Harbor.
On this day in 1941, approximately 360 Japanese warplanes were launched from six aircraft carriers, reinforced by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The first dive-bomber was spotted over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time. It was followed by 200 aircraft, which decimated the American ships anchored there, most of which were only lightly manned because it was Sunday morning. Among the 18 U.S. ships destroyed, sunk, or capsized were the Arizona, Virginia, California, Nevada, and West Virginia. More than 180 planes were destroyed on the ground and another 150 were damaged (leaving but 43 operational). American casualties totaled more than 3,400, with more than 2,400 killed (1,000 on the Arizona alone). The Japanese lost fewer than 100 men.
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And the world was never the same!
Last night Pat and I watched a Military Channel program about Pearl Harbor.
I found it interesting that the first shot fired that day was from the USS Ward, when it sunk a Japanese midget sub near the mouth of the harbor. For 60 plus years the fact that the Ward sunk the sub was in question, until the sub was located at the bottom of the ocean with a hole in the base of the conning tower, as the Ward's crew reported. One surviving member of the Ward's crew said he felt vindicated, but also expressed sadness at the death of the sub's Japanese sailors who died, "They were doing what they were told, just like I did as I was told."
Then came the segment about the USS Arizona. They sent an remote controlled underwater camera on board. I personally have mixed emotions concerning the camera, because it is the final resting place for so many men (and the survivors of the Arizona, after they pass, can have their ashes placed on board, so they can rest with their shipmates who died during the attack).
As they were showing the scene on board the Arizona, a chill went up my spine, when they entered the Captain's quarters. They showed a set of uniforms still hanging in the locker. WOW!
It's sad that yesterday's Shreveport Slimes, er Times, only had a small picture and a couple of paragraphs about Pearl Harbor. Also, it's sad that the younger generation isn't taught history as it should be taught.
I remember when I was about eight year old, my mother was at a grocery store in Leon, Iowa. She was writing a check, and asked the guy (who was about my mom's age)working the checkout counter what was the date. The man said, It's Harbor Day, and my mother didn't ask, and wrote down the date.
I asked, "What's Harbor Day?" The man told me what it was and what happened.
My mother told me she 13 year old on that day, and how scared she was that the Japanese was going to bomb her.
My dad wasn't old enough to enlist after the attack on Peal Harbor, but about a year and a half later, he was in the Navy.
It is because of the WWII vets I ended up in the military. I grew up admiring what they had done.
About 14 years ago I was an instructor at the 5th Army NCO Academy (now closed) at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas, which was a training base during WWII. One night, while on a field exercise, I was sitting on a hillside preparing to go out on a recon patrol. I knew it was an exercise and could never compare to the real thing, but I was thinking about the men and women who trained there 50 years or so earlier. What they were training for was real, and they knew it, and did it anyway.
GOD BLESS them!
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