REMEMBER? Pearl Harbor

[vitanola]

No mention today, 12/6

I wonder weather there will be much to-do tomorrow?

 

[Aristaeus]

[video=youtube;6xEWvIn-YNc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xEWvIn-YNc&feature=related[/video]
[video=youtube;ePe5s0E5MeA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePe5s0E5MeA&feature=related[/video]

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

Well they do say that The British & Americans knew it was about to happen, but let it go ahead as a means of getting the USA into WW2, thereby defeating the beastly Germans

 

[LizzieMaine]

My flag is flying today. Pity it's the only one on the street that is.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My flag is flying today. Pity it's the only one on the street that is.

I'm wearing this 1940s lapel pin today. The fake pearl in it is a conversation-starter.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Here's hoping that we never forget.

 

[Steven180]

Here's to never ever forgetting. And appreciating that history repeats itself.

Nice pin Marc.

M.

 

[dhermann1]

Just to address the "FDR knew it was going to happen" thing. I've been reading the diaries of FDR's Sec. of the Interior, Harold Ickes. He frequently mentions that they all hoped that GERMANY would create an incident that would give the US an excuse to enter the war. At the same time they all (meaning FDR and his administration) were hoping to avoid war with Japan. People criticize the US for shutting off oil and scrap metal sales to Japan in the weeks leading up to the outbreak of war. In fact FDR was receiving criticism for continuing these sales as long as he did, in an effort to appease the Japanese. Yes, he was trying to appease the japanese. The unbridled aggression of Japan forced even the State Dept to agree to stop these sales in November of 1941.
That war was imminent was obvious to everyone in the world by the end of November 1941. How it would start was another issue. Nobody outside the high level military planners in Japan expected such a ferocious and effective blow as the Pearl Harbor attack, and the subsequent invasions of Malaya and other areas of South East Asia.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of course, for most of the world the war had already been going on for over two years. Even longer if you were Chinese.

 

[dhermann1]

The more I read the more I'm puzzled why they don't finally declare the beginning of WW II as the invasion of China by the Japanese in the 30's. Japan had something like 2/3 of its army on the Chinese mainlaind for most of the war.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The more I read the more I'm puzzled why they don't finally declare the beginning of WW II as the invasion of China by the Japanese in the 30's. Japan had something like 2/3 of its army on the Chinese mainlaind for most of the war.

Maybe Americans didn't want to send their boys out to kill and die. WWI was still too recent.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The more you look into what was going on in China in the late thirties, the more you realize the Japanese regime of that era was every bit the equal of the Nazis when it comes to pure irredeemable evil. The real tragedy is that it took Pearl Harbor to wake people up to that fact.

 

[BigFitz]

Well, time marches on. It was 70 years ago afterall. I'm not saying that I want it to be forgotten because I don't, but there are fewer and fewer people alive who actually remember Pearl Harbor. When they are all gone, good or bad or whether we like it or not, Pearl harbor will fade even more in the American consciousness. Nobody says "remember the Alamo" or even less so "remember the Maine" too much anymore if at all. As a matter of fact, I couldn't tell you the date of the Alamo or the Maine. I know Pearl Harbor had much more of an impact on the country and the world than did the Alamo or the Spanish American war, but inevitably it will not be remembered much. Sad but true. I still "remember" and will do so until I die.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Well, time marches on. It was 70 years ago afterall. I'm not saying that I want it to be forgotten because I don't, but there are fewer and fewer people alive who actually remember Pearl Harbor. When they are all gone, good or bad or whether we like it or not, Pearl harbor will fade even more in the American consciousness. Nobody says "remember the Alamo" or even less so "remember the Maine" too much anymore if at all. As a matter of fact, I couldn't tell you the date of the Alamo or the Maine. I know Pearl Harbor had much more of an impact on the country and the world than did the Alamo or the Spanish American war, but inevitably it will not be remembered much. Sad but true. I still "remember" and will do so until I die.

I posted the following on the other Pearl Harbor thread.

I heard this on the radio this morning that owing to the toll time has taken on its dwindling ranks that the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association announced that this 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor will be their last reunion. An end of an era.

 

[HepKitty]

a couple of links for facebook users

https://www.facebook.com/pages/America-in-WWII-magazine/5606679248

excellent propaganda posters here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151035429970473.789874.152401795472&type=3

the links don't work, check out Wings Across America (the WASP page) Dec 7 2011 folder and WWII Magazine

 

[dhermann1]

I was stationed at Camp Smith, Hawaii during the summer of 1967, when Tora! Tora! Tora! was being filmed. (I know, I've told this story before.) Every day I'd look out the window as Pearl Harbor got "bombed". One time I was at a PX right by the water at Pearl Harbor when 6 of the planes they were using (painted up T-6's, I think) buzzed over head at tree top level. It was deafening. I tried to multiply that by 60, to get the total of 360 planes that were involved in the attack. It must have been deafening and terrifying that day.
I'm embarrassed to confess that in the 2 years I spent there, I never visited the Arizona Memorial. I'll have to do that some day.

 

[Heather]

I was surprised that it wasn't mentioned on tv this morning. I was saddened by this. On a happier note, my 8 year old surprised me on Monday when she said out of the blue "the anniversary of Pearl Harbor is on December 7th". I gave her a brief history lesson on it last year. I was so proud that she remembered.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The more you look into what was going on in China in the late thirties, the more you realize the Japanese regime of that era was every bit the equal of the Nazis when it comes to pure irredeemable evil.

In short: Nanking. "Rape" was a gross understatement.

 

[jamespowers]

My flag is flying today. Pity it's the only one on the street that is.

At full staff?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Half. And it's a 48-star flag, to boot.