Dec 7, 1941

[cwbullet]

One of the days in history that everyone should remember. I took a moment today to think about the veterans I have taken care of and their sacrifices.

 

[tsmmiller]

December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

But always will our whole Nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

Only two lines from FDR’s infamy speech.
Time moves on, things are forgotten. Sadly, I believe as a collective, Today has little meaning for most of today’s United States.
I”ve not looked at a news sites or media today. Is it even mentioned? It seems less and less.
Although I’ve not served, I think of our countries veterans quite frequently.

Edit: From CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/07/us/pearl-harbor-anniversary-survivors/index.html

 

[KenECoyote]

I've read a few books on it, including "At Dawn We Slept". Very stirring, moving and memorable.

It's very scary to think about how things would've turned out if the U.S. hadn't entered WWII and stopped the Axis powers. Ironically the attack helped rally Americans to fight back with a resolve at a point where many didn't want to join in the war.

"We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve" - often attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

 

[aerostadt]

My Dad joined the US Coast Guard and served on a supply ship in the South Pacific. He grew up on the Lake Michigan lakefront and loved boats all his life. My Mom was serving in the CAP and they met in Panama City, FA. I was born in 1947 after the war. It is hard to escape the course of human events. All of us affected to some extent.

 

[KenECoyote]

 

[Art Upton]

I've read a few books on it, including "At Dawn We Slept". Very stirring, moving and memorable.

It's very scary to think about how things would've turned out if the U.S. hadn't entered WWII and stopped the Axis powers. Ironically the attack helped rally Americans to fight back with a resolve at a point where many didn't want to join in the war.

"We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve" - often attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

There is an old movie about that, based in 1969. Yes all of Europe was different...

 

[cls]

My little sister's birthday. "A day that will live in infancy...". Happy 57th. And another dear friend's birthday, b. 1940.

 

[bjphoenix]

Time moves on, things are forgotten. Sadly, I believe as a collective, Today has little meaning for most of today’s United States.

Most of today's United States is perfectly happy if they have their Starbucks, cellphones and TikTok.

Japanese leaders in 1941 were stupid, if only they had known that they could have taken over America just by sending over a bunch of little cars.

 

[ewomack]

I knew it was Pearl Harbor Day today, but I didn't hear much about it. All I saw was one internet headline. I've been on the internet mostly all day, went out into the world, listened to radio, etc. I hear less and less about it as the years go by. I just hope the lessons learned from that generation don't pass along with that generation. Human social memory seems dangerously short.

 

[Art Upton]

There is an old movie about that, based in 1969. Yes all of Europe was different...

I tried to find it yesterday , but could not. Perhaps it is banned now?

The premise of the story is the US never took part in WWII war and left Europe to it's own. {Japan is not mentioned}

It is now 1968 (or 1969) and America is [now finally ] sending a Journalist to Nazi Europe to do a long story about it for a TV news magazine; think 60 mins etc. It seems they forbade contact with America before, with an Iron Curtain in place

But then the Journalist starts to find things the rest of the world does not know about it seems.
I was pre-teens when it was rerun on TV and didn't pay too much attention. Now it seems to be lost among internet searches.

 

[lr64]

I think they did it just to ruin my mother's birthday.

Actually, of course, it was a tragic event. And WW2, which had been underway for quite some time, killed tens of millions of people, caused massive suffering, and rearranged the world. It's conventional to say it started in 1939, but I think Chinese historians might say 1937, when the Japanese started a large scale invasion.

 

[b.wieting]

Yes, certain dates do not pass me unremarked, though I imagine I don't have awareness of other dates important to still earlier generations.

The LA Times featured a nice profile of a 100-year-old Pearl Harbor veteran.

California used to offer special license plates “Pearl Harbor Survivor”, red on white I recall. I saw one once, maybe 25-30 years ago, on a car eastbound on the Simi Freeway. It was on a Toyota. I thought that was probably a good sign.

 

[lr64]

Yes, certain dates do not pass me unremarked, though I imagine I don't have awareness of other dates important to still earlier generations.

The LA Times featured a nice profile of a 100-year-old Pearl Harbor veteran.

California used to offer special license plates “Pearl Harbor Survivor”, red on white I recall. I saw one once, maybe 25-30 years ago, on a car eastbound on the Simi Freeway. It was on a Toyota. I thought that was probably a good sign.

I was really surprised when I started to see cars labelled Mitsubishi.

 

[b.wieting]

Me too. A bit more than surprised to see (now a couple decades plus ago) Zero (airplane) plushies on sale in shops at LAX.

Still, I'm a Dodger fan, excited by the new stars from Japan (saw Ohtani steal and homer in the one game I attended!). Though I don't know how many had my first reaction when I heard they signed Yamamoto...

 

[bjphoenix]

California used to offer special license plates “Pearl Harbor Survivor”, red on white I recall. I saw one once, maybe 25-30 years ago, on a car eastbound on the Simi Freeway. It was on a Toyota. I thought that was probably a good sign.

My first father in law fought in the Pacific in WWII, in the Army Air Corp. It was 35 years after the war before he would talk about it even a little bit, that's when various groups of veterans started having reunions. He complained to his son about driving a Honda then 5 or 10 years after that they spotted a Honda mower in his garage.

 

[cwbullet]

My first father in law fought in the Pacific in WWII, in the Army Air Corp. It was 35 years after the war before he would talk about it even a little bit, that's when various groups of veterans started having reunions. He complained to his son about driving a Honda then 5 or 10 years after that they spotted a Honda mower in his garage.

My grandfather was a physician in Okinawa and Japan at the war's end with the army. He did not live long enough after the war for me to hear him talk about the war. He died in 67 before I was born. My family said he never had an afterthought of the atomic bomb, but he felt for the Japanese killed. Like him, I despise war for its effects on civilians, but it is often a required option to return to peace.

I know both my dad and grandfather refused to buy foreign products. Heck, it took me 56 years to buy a Toyota.

 

[bobby_hamill]

Yamamoto knew Japan had screwed up in attacking the USA

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve"

 

[cls]

My mom grew up in Japan, during the occupation. Her father was a civil engineer, mother was teacher. Everyone gained great deep appreciation for Japanese culture and civilization. My grandfather sweet talked the architects for a set of plans for a temple at Kyoto. Had to smuggle them out of the country! My cousin the architect has them now. Mom has all kinds of 18thC koshirae, prewar cherry wood furniture, silk robes, etc. we have no idea what to do with them. Growing up I couldn't understand why we were the only white family on the block with a rice cooker, such a great appliance. Grandparents were later stationed in Korea and Vietnam. Grandfather built the fresh water system for Saigon in 1961. I have his Vietnamese driving license, and gun license, and pistol.

 

[bmonagle]

12/7/41 was my father's 14th birthday. He enlisted in the navy in June 1945. Luckily for me and my 6 siblings, the war was over by the time he did his basic training and was assigned to the destroyer USS Taussig. He was discharged in July 1946. He never said much about the war or his time on the ship but I heard a few stories about his being a machinist's mate. He died before his time at 63. I now have 7 years on him.

 

[OverTheTop]

I attended the Arizona Memorial back in 1990. They did a great job with the way they presented it.

 

[cwbullet]

The USS West Virginia sank on that day. It was brought back to the fight. At the end of its career, it was destined to be scrapped. Students raised money to save it.

https://www.visitmountaineercountry.com/business/uss-wv-mast-and-memorial/

 

[NTP2]

"We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve" - often attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

He never said it though, at least only in a movie. He was against it though.

 

[Antares JS]

The USS West Virginia sank on that day. It was brought back to the fight.

The only ships sunk that weren't brought back into the fight were destroyers Cassin and Downes, and battleships Oklahoma and Arizona.

The metal from Cassin and Downes was recycled into two new destroyers given the same names and hull numbers. Oklahoma's hull was sold for scrap after being salvaged for anything usable, but the hull accidentally sunk in the Pacific while being towed to a scrapyard on the mainland. Arizona, of course, remains where it sunk, with the memorial built over it.

 

[Antares JS]

He never said it though, at least only in a movie. He was against it though.

Correct. The quote is from the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!

 

[NTP2]

Correct. The quote is from the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!

You can thank HLC for teaching me that yesterday.

Ps but I was suspicious before because as far as I know they don’t have giants in Japan, at least not traditionally I know I killed some in final fantasy 1…

 

[Antares JS]

You can thank HLC for teaching me that yesterday.

 

[bschultz32]

Several of the boys my mother dated in high school were killed fighting the Japanese. One was a POW of the Japanese, was horribly tortured, starved and abused, could barely walk when he returned to America, died ten years later. My mother couldn't stand to be around Japanese people, she would leave the room. Didn't pick fights with Japanese, just couldn't stomach being near them. It puzzled me when I was young. Later, as I aged into adulthood and studied history, I got it. Fortunately, there were few people of Japanese background where I grew up.

 

[dr wogz]

The Japanese had 3 attacks planned. But they only sent the first 2, thinking they had done enough.

The 3rd wave was to take out support & supply stuff. So, all that was damaged were refloated and quickly repaired. Had this 3rd wave been done, the US might have been a bit more crippled..

These targets included repair facilities, dry docks, fuel & oil tank farms, etc..

Possible third wave​

According to some accounts, several Japanese junior officers, including Fuchida and Genda, urged Nagumo to carry out a third strike in order to sink more of the Pearl Harbor's remaining warships, and damage the base's maintenance shops, drydock facilities and oil tank yards. Most notably, Fuchida gave a firsthand account of this meeting several times after the war. However, some historians have cast doubt on this and many other of Fuchida's later claims, which sometimes conflict with documented historic records. Genda, who opined during the planning for the attack that without an invasion three strikes were necessary to fully disable the Pacific Fleet, denied requesting an additional attack. Regardless, it is undisputed that the captains of the other five carriers in the task force reported they were willing and ready to carry out a third strike soon after the second returned, but Nagumo decided to withdraw for several reasons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor



edit:
another interesting fact, is that Pearl Harbor is relatively shallow (average 45' deep). So, all the sinkings meant the ships dropped a few feet. All were easily refloated & repaired because of that..

The Japanese torpedoes (air dropped) were fitted with special 'fins' to keep them in 30' or so feet of water. (Normally, a torpedo when dropped sinks to about 100ft or so.) they fitted woode 'fins' toi help alleviate this..

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/...de-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-so-devastating/

 

[Art Upton]

. wrong thread for what i posted

 

[KenECoyote]

He never said it though, at least only in a movie. He was against it though.

Correct. The quote is from the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!

I *thought* I recalled it from the old Midway movie, but I think it was also in the more modern Pearl Harbor movie. I guess it's a great movie line, but more of an urban myth like "Beam me up Scotty!".