We used to remember this day. Not so much anymore.
Requiescat in pace, those who died in service to defending Freedom and Democracy.
Requiescat in pace, those who died in service to defending Freedom and Democracy.
Today Marks The 81st Anniversary Of The Attack On Pearl Harbor
- Thread starter sablebrush52
- Start date
Some of us still do. Thank you for the reminder. I had yet to look at my Calendar.
Our PBS channel has had three really good specials on this week. I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word, but they were fascinating and I always learn something I didn't know before.
Last year and the year before especially, I'm afraid it was more notable as the "deadline" and hoping it would come soon so all the cheesy Medicare ads with Namath, JJ, Asner, you name it would disappear. Who in the heck thought tying that deadline to Pearl Harbor Day made sense? How does December 7 not resonate with someone when they decided that one . . . oh well. This year the ads seem less obtrusive, here anyway.
Last year and the year before especially, I'm afraid it was more notable as the "deadline" and hoping it would come soon so all the cheesy Medicare ads with Namath, JJ, Asner, you name it would disappear. Who in the heck thought tying that deadline to Pearl Harbor Day made sense? How does December 7 not resonate with someone when they decided that one . . . oh well. This year the ads seem less obtrusive, here anyway.
It's easy to shake a fist at America and restate all of her transgressions. But few seem to remember the tyranny of Japan upon its neighbors.
At the time of the first Atomic Bomb use on Japan, Japan's military was killing around 10,000 civilians a day in Southeast Asia and China. In 10 days time, that is the same number killed by our second use of the bomb that ended the war. Had the war been prolonged, who would be to blame for the additional deaths?
The type of brutality faced in the Pacific theater in some ways not just rivaled but out stripped what occurred in the European theater.
People don't want to much discuss this today. All war is tragic and barbaric. But remembering this day is just as much about remembering the start of the war as it is remembering the countless lives that were spared by its end.
Just my thoughts.
At the time of the first Atomic Bomb use on Japan, Japan's military was killing around 10,000 civilians a day in Southeast Asia and China. In 10 days time, that is the same number killed by our second use of the bomb that ended the war. Had the war been prolonged, who would be to blame for the additional deaths?
The type of brutality faced in the Pacific theater in some ways not just rivaled but out stripped what occurred in the European theater.
People don't want to much discuss this today. All war is tragic and barbaric. But remembering this day is just as much about remembering the start of the war as it is remembering the countless lives that were spared by its end.
Just my thoughts.
The two great naval set pieces of World War II were Pearl Harbor and Midway Island. Midway Island was decisive in such a way as to inhibit the Japanese navy for the rest of the war, so afraid they were of sustaining another similar defeat. The only comparable battle may have been the British against the French at Trafalgar, with Lord Nelson being he British admiral in command.
The Japanese navy foresaw the danger of inviting the U.S. into the war as an adversary. Japan had run rough shod over the vast Chinese land mass and Asian countries all over the Pacific. The Pearl Harbor attack was brilliant with the element of surprise, but strategically not a good set-up for the Japanese in the Pacific.
The Japanese navy foresaw the danger of inviting the U.S. into the war as an adversary. Japan had run rough shod over the vast Chinese land mass and Asian countries all over the Pacific. The Pearl Harbor attack was brilliant with the element of surprise, but strategically not a good set-up for the Japanese in the Pacific.
As it fades in our memories there are fewer people around who remember this day. This day should be remembered as the start of a war that took 400,00+ men from us forever. I join @sablebrush52 in remembering this day. I do this with not a feeling of hate in my heart but rather the loss of those who died.
I still acknowledge the day. The Japanese finally gave the American public the push needed to allow Roosevelt to go to war in Europe. A two theater wasn't in the plans but, FDR knew he couldn't lead us into war against Germany and Italy, public support wasn't there. "Pearl Harbor Day, was the start of the end of WWII. Hitler declared war and off we went ...WWII.
If one hasn't visited Pearl and the USN Arizona ... it is worth the trip.
If one hasn't visited Pearl and the USN Arizona ... it is worth the trip.
We go easy on Japan, Germany, and Red China. We need to remember this day.
Ever seen one of those security cam videos where a couple guys step from the shadows and KO sucker punch some shopper or dog walker from behind, stomp on their head for good measure, then strip them of their valuables and run out of the frame?
Absolute 100% cowardly bullshit of the lowest possible type.
I think it disqualifies those who do it from existing in a civilized society. As in instantaneously and on the spot. No qualifiers, no excuses, no exceptions.
The end.
The Pearl Harbor attack was the international version of that behavior.
We forget it at our peril.
Absolute 100% cowardly bullshit of the lowest possible type.
I think it disqualifies those who do it from existing in a civilized society. As in instantaneously and on the spot. No qualifiers, no excuses, no exceptions.
The end.
The Pearl Harbor attack was the international version of that behavior.
We forget it at our peril.
The Japanese didn't just attack Pearl Harbor that day. It also simultaneously attacked US territory in the Philippines, Wake Island and Guam, and the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, as well as Thailand. Its attacks on those areas were on Dec. 8, but they happened at around the same time as Pearl Harbor because of time differences. It was the beginning of the end of the British Empire, theretofore the world's largest ever, and the beginning of US ascendancy over the rest of the world.
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My grandmother harbored all kinds of delusional conspiracy theories about Pearl Harbor, all directed against who she called that damned drunken syphlitic whoremaster Roosevelt, and other names.
She agreed with the New Deal, except the legalizing booze part and intervention part.
Reading all the extensive collection of books she had about Pearl Harbor, I’m convinced FDR was betting the Japanese wouldn’t dare, and the Japanese were convinced FDR would declare war if they invaded the Dutch East Indies, and both miscalculated.
The Japanese could have gotten all the oil they needed from the Dutch East Indies.
The biggest what if, is if all three US carriers were in port on December 7.
They’d have been non operational at best afterwards. The Japanese would have sent a third wave and destroyed the oil tanks. There’d have been no Midway, no Guadalcanal, and the Japanese might have won a negotiated peace after FDR was defeated in 1944.
Or maybe we’d have still built all the fleet we did build, and won anyway.
Sneaking up early one Sunday morning and attacking the wealthiest nation on earth was a bad idea.
Better they not have done that, you know?
She agreed with the New Deal, except the legalizing booze part and intervention part.
Reading all the extensive collection of books she had about Pearl Harbor, I’m convinced FDR was betting the Japanese wouldn’t dare, and the Japanese were convinced FDR would declare war if they invaded the Dutch East Indies, and both miscalculated.
The Japanese could have gotten all the oil they needed from the Dutch East Indies.
The biggest what if, is if all three US carriers were in port on December 7.
They’d have been non operational at best afterwards. The Japanese would have sent a third wave and destroyed the oil tanks. There’d have been no Midway, no Guadalcanal, and the Japanese might have won a negotiated peace after FDR was defeated in 1944.
Or maybe we’d have still built all the fleet we did build, and won anyway.
Sneaking up early one Sunday morning and attacking the wealthiest nation on earth was a bad idea.
Better they not have done that, you know?
A day, like Sept 11, that no American should ever fail to take notice of in a prayerful or reflective way. I also always pause on June 6 and remember the bravery of those young Americans in the landing crafts (symbolic of so many other young people over the decades in places as close as Gettysburg and as far away as Europe, the far east and the middle east.)
A footnote in a Roosevelt biography about the war contained the fact that the navy was expecting delivery of a large number of planes to Pear Harbor at around the same time. On that Sunday morning spotters on the ground saw a large number of planes heading toward P.H. and called the duty officer to alert him. The response was, perhaps understandably, " don't worry about it "...
A footnote in a Roosevelt biography about the war contained the fact that the navy was expecting delivery of a large number of planes to Pear Harbor at around the same time. On that Sunday morning spotters on the ground saw a large number of planes heading toward P.H. and called the duty officer to alert him. The response was, perhaps understandably, " don't worry about it "...
"The History Channel" (sarcastic quotes) decided that Pawn Stars Do America are more important to Americans than a prime time documentary about December 7, 1941.
Both of my grandfathers fought in WWII. One in the Pacific Theater the other in the European Theater. They both saw heavy fighting and were at the point of the spear. The one that fought in the Pacific Theater was damaged to his soul by the brutality of the Japanese. I never forget Pearl Harbor because of him and what that war did to him. They were both heroes to me. May they Rest In Peace.
My Mom told me today that the day of the Pearl Harbor attack was one of her earliest distinct memories.
Her mother told her to go get her dad from his wood shop and they spent the next untold days listening to the radio. They’d never heard of Pearl Harbor before, but much unfolded from there that affected her life, as a five year old, in so many ways.
Never forget.
Her mother told her to go get her dad from his wood shop and they spent the next untold days listening to the radio. They’d never heard of Pearl Harbor before, but much unfolded from there that affected her life, as a five year old, in so many ways.
Never forget.
When war was declared, the whole famdamly signed up. One of my uncles was a tank commander assigned to Patton's tank core, two of my uncles were in the Navy and saw action in the Pacific. My father was repeatedly refused service as his skills as an aircraft engineer were considered more useful to the war effort. My aunts did war work for much of the war.
None of them ever talked about it after the war. It was just something they did as a matter of course, but the two uncles in the navy went to school under the GI bill and had distinguished careers as Geologists - one, Leon, becoming the Chair of the Department of Geology at Caltech and trained the astronauts to take samples of moon rock, while the other went into oil exploration and eventually founded his own oil company, Sundance Oil - Morris, the tank commander, studied medicine and became a GP. That was one hell of a generation.