Don't Forget December 7, 1941

...will observe a moment of silence, today, in remembrance.

In an hour the history channel will have a Pearl program.
Those interested might also visit this website.
http://www.ussutah.org/

Thanks for the reminder, Heather. Our nation's innocence was lost that day.

Today I am remembering Chief Watertender Peter Tomich of the Utah, who lost his life securing the Utah's boilers and in doing so, saved the lives of many of his shipmates.

I was just listening to a retelling on NPR. I visited Pearl Harbor last year -- it's very somber.

First some context. In San Francisco we had been getting plenty of pro Chinese and anti Japanese progrganda since 1937, and of course there was the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, so even we kids knew who the bad guys were.

Then in march/April 1941, Life had a big speculative article on what it would be like if the Japanese invaded and conquered the Pacific Coast.

I was nine and a half when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I heard the news after attending Sunday School. That afternoon and evening we were glued to the radio. My father and others went to the roof of homes and apartments listening and looking for enemy planes.

Several neighbors were loading their cars with belongings and preparing to head to the Sierras.

Within a few days, the Chinese-American population wore pins with US and Chinese flags so they would not be identified as "Japs" and my cousin Maury Sokolow could not withdraw money from a bank because they thought his name might be Japanese.

In the schoolyard on the morning of the 8th we stood in angry groups wishing there were some Japs we could beat up because they had made a "sneak attack" and did not fight fair.

It and the entire years of WWII are all vividly engrammed in my mind.

What everyone said above.

I'm watching the History Channel documentary and remembering our dead.

I hope we all continue to learn about that war and never forget what can happen, even in modern times, even in the US and Europe. RIP, Pearl Harbor victims.

regdog said:

Another year has passed and we remember

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*Sigh*

Today Chief Watertender Peter Tomich sacrificed himself for his crewmates.

Thank you, reg, for helping us remember.

Remembering

My dad made sure the stars and stripes flew at our house each December 7. He was a 23-year-old sailor at Pearl Harbor on this day 71 years ago. I was six months old and wouldn’t see him until he returned from British Samoa in 1944.

We took the train to join him at Great Lakes Naval Station, because we couldn’t get tires for our car nor enough gas ration coupons to drive from Montana to Illinois. I remember he limped and for a long time walked with a cane.

My flag flies today for Dad.

Wow, Chase. I'm thinking of your father today, too.

Haggis said:

Thank you, reg, for helping us remember.

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QFT. I remember.

I remember the stories of how, after it was over and they were celebrating, the Japanese realized the diplomatic screw up in their timing.

Do we have that kind of wake-up ability in us today? I say yes. And that, I think, is our greatest tribute to their loss.

... without the military this country would have been history long ago.
Thanks soldiers past and present. You're all heroes imo.

My father served on a destroyer. I don't forget.