Remember PEARL

[scrat]

looking again at the photos the story is fake. Email was who knows why it was done. But the quality of the photos is fantastic. Its sad to see that this generation of people are almost all gone. Im glad we had the privelage of talking meeting and growing up with these people. Then only real pearl harbor veteran i knew was Mr. Blanchard my 6th grade teacher. That was too many decades ago. I doubt he is around anymore. If i could find him today if he is still alive i sure would love to sit down and talk to the man.

 

[scrat]

well today is the day so i thought i would bring this up again.

 

[A-190]

And I do. My dads female cousin was at pearl and was KIA civilian nurse.

So tonight I will watch TOra Tora Tora in rememberence......and not that hockey love fest they made a few years ago.

 

[threefeathers]

Thank you, I do. I had three close friends in my yonger life who were survivors of that attack. They were very influential in my life.

 

[Mrs. Armoredman]

Excellent pics Scrat. My dad was in WWII and I never learned what ship he was on.

God Bless and Protect all our men and women who gave thier life so we can be free. My God Bless America.

 

[230RN]

LINK: Not Brownie pix

These pics and the stories they engendered on this thread are wonderful, but didn't we have the exact same thread a year ago?

 

[scrat]

My grandfather was in the 628battalion tank destroyers. Faught in germany. However i remember when i was a kid my 6th grade teacher was a pearl harbor vet. Dont know what ship, name was Mr. Blanchard.

 

[jfrey]

My beloved uncle was on the California when it sank at Pearl. He survived to tell many stories of those heros who were there that day. He is gone on to his heavenly deserve now but his memory will live with many of us forever.
God blessour troops and God bless America. I think we are going to need it.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

As long as I live I will make sure Pearl harbor is not forgotten.

 

[MT GUNNY]

Who Cares if the Story is fake, the Pics are of a True Account in time.
I Thank Our Vets For sacrificing for our Freedom!


After six months of intense fire-bombing of 67 other Japanese cities, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday,[1] August 6, 1945 [2], followed on August 9 by the detonation of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb over Nagasaki.



Those are Real also!

Double Naught Spy said "Why we need to make up a reason to bring up the topic is beyond me,"
Its beyond me why anyone would want to forget, and not tell our Young. Without History we would not Learn. Thoughts like yours will be the Death of Many.

Here is another for ya;


And Dont Forget: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler

While your at it, take a look at \/

 

[Just Jim]

An old vet I know says it best, "if you can go to the library and read a book then thank your teacher. If you can read it in english then thank a vet"

 

[armoredman]

I found the pic of The Pennsylvania behind the wreck of the Downes and Gassin in my inherited copy of History of World War II, Armed Forces Edition, printed 1945.
Also, that last shot of scrats, with the ship on her side, according to the same book, "The USS Helena suffers torpedo wounds, but her anti-aircraft guns shot down six Jap planes." No politically correct spelling here!

 

[MT GUNNY]

Armoredman ;
Can you post the Pic?

 

[Cyborg]

If You Only Knew, Kaieto

"When this war is over the only place the japanese language will be spoken is in hell." -- Admiral 'Bull' Halsey after having seen the devastation at Pearl Harbor.

For myself I'm thankful it didn't come to what Bull wanted.

If you only knew how close this actually came to coming true, m'friend, you would just about soil yourself. Most people do not know it, but the Empire of Japan almost did not surrender - even after both Hiroshima and Nagasaki! In point of fact Tojo and the junta DIDN'T surrender. It was the Emperor, flying in the face of thousands of years of tradition, who recorded the message of surrender. Even at that the message almost did not get broadcast. Though several copies of the recording (on vinyl in those days) were made and sent out of the imperial compound, only a SINGLE COPY of the recording made it to a radio station to be broadcast. Had that copy not made it through the Junta's cordon, there would have been no surrender and Operation Downfall would have had to be implimented. The Japanese would have fought to virtually the last man, woman and child and the hatred engendered in the U.S. at the staggering casualties it would have taken would have made experience of the post-civil war south look like a picnic.

 

[MT GUNNY]

Cyborg;
where can I find Info on this; "Operation Downfall"

 

[armoredman]

MT GUNNY, I don't have them in digital form, only the original hard copy in the book, and it's old enough I don't want to harm the spine trying to scan it.

 

[jrhines]

Pearl...

Fred Ward was a commissary man (I'm just a cook!) in the USN at Pearl that day. He had started to serve brunch in the Officer mess over on the north side of Ford Island, a small airstrip in the middle of the harbor, and where battleship row and the AZ were tied up. He told me "Johnny, when the s... started happening, I figured the place to be was in the officers pool across the street. I set out at a dead run and, looking over my shoulder, dove head long into the deep end. Dammed near killed me, the pool had been drained and there was only about 4" of water in it." Uncle Fred suffered a broken coller bone and contusions, but he was a 6'4" lumberjack, and feared no 3 men. He served on a couple of tin cans I think, and told of shooting KK planes for three or four hours on end.
He continued to be a cook, uncommonly good with a skillet. I remember his elk roasts cooked in an iron Dutch oven over an open campfire, wild garlic, a can of beer in the mix...
When my wife and I visited him in 1973, he couldn't remember if he promised terryaky (SP?) ribs or pot roast, so he fixed both, with homemade fresh mayo on the coleslaw... The family misses him but remembers.
I was stationed at FICPAC on Ford Island (62-65), as a photographer in the only class B lab in the Navy. We had scads of these photos, all are in the archives and were trotted out for copies when the VIP's came (like John Wayne). I have a bunch of the stuff put away somewhere, including some BDA stuff out of the Japanese gun cameras. I showed them to Uncle Fred when I returned home in '65, and we sat for a long time and he talked about that day and other days that he had never talked about before. It was a short 20 years ago that he had lived through it all, kinda like telling the guys now about VietNam.
So tip one up with me for Uncle Fred, he was a good guy, you would've liked him.

 

[Cyborg]

Operation Downfall

where can I find Info on this; "Operation Downfall"

That was the codename for the (thankfully never executed) U.S. invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.

Not to sound partonizing to a Gunny, but - Google is your friend. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

Doubtless there are other references online to operations Downfall, Olympic and Coronet. It was estimated that the campaign to take the Japanese Home Islands would cost over HALF A MILLION U.S. casualties.

 

[230RN]

"Who Cares if the Story is fake."

Me.

I cannot abide falsehoods being promulgated, even in a good cause. There were good and honest and brave photographers, some pro, some amateur, some military taking those pictures, and to attribute them to a false source is a lie and the originator of the story is a liar.

Plain and simple.

 

[scrat]

My father just came over for a while. As soon as he walked in he asked me if i knew what today was. Said sure do. Then we started talking. One thing for sure he is correct on. Its not like it used to be. Its almost as if a country we forgot. He was looking all over this morning to see any movies on Pearl Harbor. Not one. Same here. I remember as a kid every year a few days before Dec7 and after on Television there were all sorts of WWII movies from tora tora tora, midway everything.

 

[Mrs. Armoredman]

I am sorry I was totally rude. I just want to say thanks so so much for our freedom. I want to say a special thank you to my dad who served in WWII. Even a bigger thank you to those who are overseas right now and to all vets who are here on this board. I salute you all.

 

[scrat]

Jrhines good story

 

[WardenWolf]

For the record, that 3rd picture with the huge explosion is the destroyer USS Shaw. Her forward magazines detonated, completely destroying her bow. After temporary repairs (that basically just closed the hull directly in front of the forward funnel), she was sailed to San Francisco and had a new bow installed.

To give you some idea, this is what she looked like before:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/USS_Shaw_(DD-373)_September_1938.jpg

And this is what she looked like with her temporary bow:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/USS_Shaw_(DD-373)_with_temporary_bow.jpg

Everything in front of the forward funnel was GONE.

 

[scrat]

Dont know whats going on but hopefully someone remembered. Just recently over the past few minutes 3 stealth bombers have flown by.

 

[230RN]

I was less than a year old on the Day of Infamy.

I don't remember it. But I Remember it.