Dec 7, 1941

[RocketDestroyer]

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 father in law fought in the Pacific as a Marine. He was wounded in battle twice and had malaria. Somehow he survived and returned home. He rarely spoke about his time in the war though once he did say a little about how the Japanese tortured Americans they captured and his time in hospital in Australia. He suffered bouts of malaria the rest of his life and my wife can remember him waking up at night screaming. He still had shell fragments in his eye the remainder of his life. He never joined any veterans groups even though he was asked many times. He simply wanted to get on with his life and forget the entire experience.

 

[grillsjosephbus]

Das TARD Ly

 

[RiffD]

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.

Same with my grandmother. Poor woman had Pearl Harbor day for a birthday and her wedding anniversary was 9/11...