December 7

[creaturecat]

duly noted, here :

[Ayles]

My grandfather was a survivor and after my dad passed I found a couple items in his garage that are kind of cool.

[matthewb0051]

^^^^
That is very, very cool.

[WPOZZZ]

Parts of Oahu got hit with 14 inches of rain last night. We have flooding and power outages. The ceremony is at Kilo Pier which is like a hangar that is open on the ocean side. There is a light rain right now.

[matthewb0051]

If any of your are retirees (with DoD ID) or Active Duty for that matter, you can use the PACFLT Admirals launch for a tour around Ford Island and also get taken directly to Arizona Memorial. You may take up to 4 guests.

• Reservations must be made through COMPACFLT Protocol Office at 474-2194 ext 129

I've done this several times and it is incredible. Small launch with a Petty Officer giving a 'tour'. Goes anti clockwise around Ford Island, stopping at the USS Utah which is on the north side of the island and is still sunk. IIRC, the final stop is the Arizona and you are given a little more priority on/off and a little more time than the tourists going from the National Park Service area.

[McLovin]

A salute today to the Greatest Generation.

[monoflo]

Of course it still matters --- and in a different way we are doomed to repeat it as we have not learned --vigilance.

[matthewb0051]

Don't forget that the USS Utah is also a Memorial on the northern side of Ford Island around the bend from the Arizona Memorial. W/O a DoD ID card you likely won't get to see this one. There is Naval on-base housing less than 100 meters from the shoreline that looks directly at this memorial.

There is a little girl buried on the Utah. A Sailor onboard had one of his daughter's
remains on Dec 7, 1941.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/entombed-baby-pearl-harbor/

[craigster59]

It really is an amazing and sobering visit to the memorial. Seeing the oil still seeping up after all these years. And some of the survivors choosing to be interred upon their death with their shipmates still gives me a lump in my throat. Truly the greatest generation.

[mjohnson]

An amazing time - and one that honestly I'm grateful to have been born 50y too late for.

When I hired on at Los Alamos in 1996 we had a few of the "first crew" still around. Such a history that my new colleagues have missed.

One of my granddads was a Marine in the Pacific and talked of nothing - the other failed out of flight school and yet would never shut up about his "Navy Days" (mostly "attending" to the art-school girls in Chicago - though that did get us Grandma Johnson, so I guess that was good...)

[stevej37]

My father fought as an infantryman in the 'battle of the bulge'
He would never talk about it. It brought back too many memories.

[matthewb0051]

Another view of USS Utah, you can see Navy housing in this one. I believe this is Lt Commander or Commander housing.

[KevinTodd]

My dad never once mentioned his time there to my brother and me until he was in his final few months. Then we heard stories that we still cannot quite wrap our heads around.

I sure do miss him.

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by RNajarian

The photos below were taken at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam AFB, Oahu HI.

It is damage to the operations building from the day of the attack. As a reminder of those who lost their lives on that day the damage was never repaired.

Reminds me of the PDF (Panamanian Defense Forces) buildings when I was in Panama.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by KevinTodd

I sure do miss him.

I can only imagine.

Great pictures throughout this thread.

Going to sea after Pearl Harbor, knowing the threat, the result in doubt, is the honor given.

The Army as well, btw. A story not often told.

[WPOZZZ]

My mom was 11 years old and remembers the planes flying over the Waianae mountains.

[sc_rufctr]

80 years just like that. RIP...

Gary Sinise shared this on Faceplant.

[RobFrost]

I visited Pearl Harbour some 20 years ago and it was a serene and thought-provoking place. The footage of the exploding Arizona was particularly poignant.

One thing that surprised me was how many Japanese were there to pay their respects to the dead too. Everyone at the memorial was welcoming and respectful to all visitors, regardless of nationality and it was heartwarming to observe the respect and reconciliation which has developed between Japan and USA over the decades.

I see it as one of the most difficult responsibilities for any leader, to create among their electorate, the appetite to go to war, once one has decided to do so.

A document was produced for Roosevelt by one of USA's top diplomats in Asia specifying eight things which, if USA did them, would guarantee Japan's attack. He did all eight, and the attack followed thereafter. That is not to say that it was necessarily his intention to bait them into attacking Pearl Harbour in order to create the public appetite to enter the war, but it does show how war had become somewhat inevitable in the context of Japan's imperialism and US opposition to it.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

[GH85Carrera]

On our last visit to Hawaii we went to Pearl Harbor. The tours were pretty much sold out so only some of the group we had got to go to the Arizona. I had been there before so I was OK to stay on shore. There were a group of Japanese teens and they were giggling and acting like it was a theme park. My wife stopped me from approaching them as the ugly American just as a park ranger explained in low angry tones that this is a memorial and to act like they do at the Hiroshima site.

Since my dad was an retired officer, we went onto Ford Island and visited the Utah. We were alone there with our silent thoughts.

[bob deluke]

I was stationed on a carrier during Nam. On the way over we stopped in Hawaii for on load planes, weapons, etc. If you were on the flight deck, or hanger deck for any reason, announcement was made on the MC-1 “Attention on deck” and you stood at attention and saluted as you passed by the Arizona and monument. Eerily quiet, not a sound on the ship, kinda spooky. Made that trip 3 times on the way to Nam. My Dad was on the USS Wisconsin during WWII in the Pacific. Underwater welder…