Dec. 7th, 1941

[sigepmock]

Let's not forget:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese agression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.
By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan's diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.
The U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.
These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan's far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accomodation might have been considered.
However, the memory of the "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan's striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.
Sad I actually had to search the "News" to find articles :(
Chris

[Jyruiz]

Will never forget.

[Keith E. Sayre]

We kicked their asses because we had more industrial might than anyone on the planet and the American will to win. I wonder in todays world if we could
muster up either. Sure does concern me.

[sigepmock]

Found this on www.rememberingpearlharbor.org:
It has been over 65 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, marking the entrance of the United States into World War II. It remains our moral duty to those who died and served to remember what happened on that Sunday morning 65 years ago.
In doing so, we also remember all the servicemen and servicewomen plus the millions of innocent non-combatants who lost their lives on all sides as a direct result of this heinous and unprovoked act of aggression. We must remember and remain vigilant to ensure that it can never happen again. More importantly, lest we forget the sacrifice of those who died, were wounded or proudly served, ensuring our freedom that Sunday Morning or since.
Much has occurred in the world since December 7, 1941. The world has seen quite a number of other wars that called upon the Armed Forces of the United States. - Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Desert Storm, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and currently Iraq, not to mention the untold and sparsely known conflicts which have also called upon American Patriots to risk all for preservation of our freedom and way of life.
Yet complacency, our greatest enemy, surrounds us. For a graphic example of which we speak, on September 11, 2001, America was again the target of foreign aggression. What happened on that day was in fact an Act of War and Americans must again rise to the occasion and defend itself or it will only face similar or worse vile acts of destruction in the coming years.
Whatever your political persuasion and whether you believe we as a nation are currently right or wrong in our current actions with regards to Terrorism. It has been America's complacency and inaction against these countries and organizations for the past 20 - 25 years or more that has permitted terrorism to fester and grow like a cancer.
Terrorism is not what concerns us, the terrorist ultimately will be defeated. It is complacency and indifference. These two factors can erode the very reasons so many before have served, bled and died to preserve.

[bigq]

We kicked their asses because we had more industrial might than anyone on the planet and the American will to win. I wonder in todays world if we could
muster up either. Sure does concern me.
Me too Keith, me too.:(

[atomickitn]

god bless all who did not make it home on this terrible day

[Mandelon]

To get many young americans riled up, they'd have to stike 50 Cent's house, or attack My Space headquarters....:rolleyes:

[RitcheyRch]

Will never forget

[Froggystyle]

I posted this in another thread, but will post it here as well. This was sent to me by a United pilot who is a friend of mine. It was sent to him by the author, who is a good friend of his. This is the real deal, no snopes BS here...
"Hey guys -
This is just a goofy story, but I though you might appreciate reading it all the same.
The last leg home of my last trip was out of Denver to SFO last night. We had 8 or so ex-military Pearl Harbor survivors on board enroute to Honolulu. They were traveling with the CEO of The Greatest Generation Foundation www.tggf.us . They all crowded up to the cockpit to look around and meet with us. Among them was an Air Corps vet that flew B17's, 24's, and 29's in that war...he was impressed with all the electronics, but suggested he'd prefer round dials...I agreed. With low clouds and rain at SFO, we were getting stuck with at least a 1 hour delay on the ground in Denver and they were likely going to miss their connection and therefore the special tour and ceremony planned for them at Pearl. We got on the radio and contacted an ATC coordinator in Chicago through our dispatcher and the grinding wheels actually turned pretty fast. "How soon can you be ready?" was the response. With dispatchers and Federal ATC employees all working to fix the problem, we worked out a solution where 5 other United flights would add a few minutes to their delay so that our delay could be greatly reduced. We made a quick taxi out and a fast run to SFO making the connection work with time to spare. SFO operations actually cleared a gate so that we could park right next to the HNL flight; these guys didn't even have to walk very far.
The best part of the story is that one of our "Global Services" passengers (ultra-elite service as they are usually CEOs or people that influence a great deal of business for us) overheard details of the trip these men were on. They were met at SFO with First Class ticket upgrades for their leg to Honolulu paid for by this customer.
We played a really small part in this, but it was fun watching everything come together."

[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44680&stc=1&d=1197046628
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[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44685&stc=1&d=1197046767
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44686&stc=1&d=1197046809
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http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44688&stc=1&d=1197046809
Remember Pearl Harbor.
One of the most remarkable survival stories of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is that of Walter Staff. Born in Magna, Utah, he grew up in Salt Lake City where he attended South High School before joining the Navy in February 1940. He was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma in the summer of that year. On Friday night, December 5, 1941, the Oklahoma returned to Pearl Harbor from maneuvers in the Pacific . Part of the crew was given shore leave, and those who remained on board looked forward to weekend of light duty. Walter was among those on board the battleship when it was attacked and sunk . He remained trapped in the submerged battleship for two days until rescue crew were able to set him and a companion free . He was one of 32 sailors to be rescued from the Oklahoma, which lost 450 of its 1,300-member crew during the attack.
Interviewed nearly 50 years later, the ordeal remained vivid in Walter Staff's mind: "I had been to breakfast. First general quarters sounded. Everyone was grousing around, we had just been off maneuvers, it was Sunday morning. We thought it was just another drill again and why on Sunday morning? Then about thirty seconds later a boatswain's mate came just screaming over the speaker. And you could tell by his voice that something was wrong. My general quarters station was on the water watch [to check for water leaking into the ship]. I had to go the length of the ship on the third deck. I was about halfway down the port side, and we felt this one hit . I came back up out of the lower compartment into this big forward air compressor room,… and we got another hit. It shattered the lights and we were in complete darkness. Then it was just like a waterfall, all of a sudden you are in water. I came to and felt around and Centers was there with me…
"We could hear firing, and then later on after the main battle was over we could hear boat whistles, and we knew we were sunk, but we had no idea how bad everything was. We knew where we were trapped and expected the air to be used up. We would just pass out, and we were resigned to our fate. We didn't see any hopes at all knowing about where we were and everything.
"You lose all track of time. Then we heard some tapping and we figured something was going on. They tapped one-two, one-two. Then we tapped back…. We could see a little bit of light. They are cutting away and I am watching the water below us. The water is coming up and they are cutting. I thought the water was going to beat them. It is up around your waist now, up around your neck. The water was running out where the rescue crew was working, so they just took off. You could hear them leave. It is about the worst thing, because you are that close to being rescued. You can just about touch somebody and then they had left.”
“We pushed into this other compartment. We dogged the door down after we got in so none of that water could get in. Pretty soon they were up above us, and there was a hatch on this one. They yelled down asking if we were in a dry compartment. I told them "Yeah," and they said, "Stand clear." The door flops open and there's your rescue party. I thought it was just getting dark Sunday night when we came out and it was just getting light Tuesday morning. I lost twenty pounds since I didn't have anything to eat or drink for two days we were trapped in the ship."
The source for this story was Dr. Kent Powell, "Utah Remembers World War II."

[sigepmock]

Great pics

[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44707&stc=1&d=1197067972
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44708&stc=1&d=1197068157
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[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44713&stc=1&d=1197068159
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[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44718&stc=1&d=1197068313
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[Jbb]

http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44723&stc=1&d=1197068451
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http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44725&stc=1&d=1197068613

[Jbb]

In their own words ... (http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/personal.html)

[mouzer]

In their own words ... (http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/personal.html)
READ ( A young marines is just where he wants to be).........my 13 yr old daughter and i met Mal Middlesworth today....WOW the stories he told us .. he was only 17 yrs old then.

[RiverDave]

Nice pics Brian.. Sad day for sure. :(
RD

[My Man's Sportin' Wood]

Thanks so much for posting the great pics and story, Brian. I'm going to use those for a PP to show my students every Pearl Harbor Day, if that's alright with you. Maybe I can upload Roosevelt's speech on it also.

[boat boy]

Been to Pearl Harbor 3 times, first time was in 98 when they brought Mighty Moe into the Harbor to turn it into a Museum. Meet the daughter of Skipper Callahan who was the Captain when the signing of the treaty with Japan took place. She was on the Moe when they docked her, told my son and I lot of stories about the vessel...last year we were there on the 4th of December as they were getting her ready for the 7th...a lot of vet's from WWII were taking the tour during that time, all I could say is thanks for serving.

[adjones419]

One of the most important days in American history to remember. My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII, and to this day he still hates the Japs. My mom and aunt both drive Toyotas...it pisses him off royally.

[Ultracrazy]

To get many young americans riled up, they'd have to stike 50 Cent's house, or attack My Space headquarters....:rolleyes:
True.........

[Jbb]

Thanks so much for posting the great pics and story, Brian. I'm going to use those for a PP to show my students every Pearl Harbor Day, if that's alright with you. Maybe I can upload Roosevelt's speech on it also.
You're welcome, great idea for a presentation.....somewhere I may have more pics....I'll check.

[My Man's Sportin' Wood]

You're welcome, great idea for a presentation.....somewhere I may have more pics....I'll check.
Okay, I'm a little slow. Now I get it. :D Sometimes I think I'm a blonde stuck in a brunette's body.:rolleyes:

[ColeTR2]

Iowa Class Battleship fires its 16 inch guns
video1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVyYmQkARl8)
on board video
video2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsNlmiLJGIw&feature=related)
USS Missouri (BB-63) story
video3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puxVvU52368&feature=related)