Pearl Harbor Day......................

[The Slab Bacon]

I cant believe that no one posted anything yesterday about Pearl Harbor Day! !

        

[Detroit47]

All I can say is it's too bad they only had two bombs to drop. Rember Pearl Harbor and Battan.

[WA1GFZ]

The second one sure got their attention

[N0WEK]

Here is my reading for the week...

Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor

by Daniel Madson

It's a great, detailed, account of salvaging the ships at Pearl.

I just met a Pearl Harbor survivor when I was out in Baltimore working on my old boat, the USS Torsk SS-423, which sank the last warship of WWII.

He got the USS California sunk out from under him at Pearl and later the USS Chicago too; he then volunteered for submarines and did both war patrols on the Torsk. He managed to be there for the opening shot and the last shot of the war. He's still in pretty good shape at 92.

http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Salvaging-Battle-Fleet-Harbor/dp/1557504881/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323362711&sr=1-22

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

As terrible as the attack itself was, the thing that really shook me was hearing one of the fellows on duty at Pearl afterward talking about the Oklahoma. Though a few sailors were cut out in the following days, a number were trapped inside and couldn't be reached. He said they could be heard rapping with wrenches on the metal surfaces deep inside the ship day after day. Having night guard duty, it was extremely unsettling to him. I think he said the rapping stopped sometime around Christmas day. Certainly a horrible, helpless feeling and experience.

These side stories often get lost in the bigger headline.

[k4kyv]

As terrible as the attack itself was, the thing that really shook me was hearing one of the fellows on duty at Pearl afterward talking about the Oklahoma. Though a few sailors were cut out in the following days, a number were trapped inside and couldn't be reached. He said they could be heard rapping with wrenches on the metal surfaces deep inside the ship day after day. Having night guard duty, it was extremely unsettling to him. I think he said the rapping stopped sometime around Christmas day. Certainly a horrible, helpless feeling and experience.

I have an uncle (now SK) who served on a battleship in the Pacific during WW2. Something he said always haunted him, probably right up to the day he died, was his memory of the ship being torpedoed, resulting in a big hole in the hull below the water level, and the ship rapidly taking water. The captain ordered all hatches to the damaged compartments closed as quickly as possible lest the ship take on too much water and possibly sink. There were still sailors alive on the other side of the hatches, banging on the door; they could be heard crying for help, begging for the hatches to be re-opened long enough to escape.  But all personnel were ordered not to re-open any hatches.

[KC4ALF]

There is an OWI (Office of War Information) film from 1943 I think, on the righting of the Oklahoma. Fascinating and unbelievable what they had to go through to accomplish this. It gives an insight into the diffuculties of raising a ship that big. It will be interesting to see if the same techniques will be used on the Graf Spee.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I had the kids what the Roosevelt "Day of Infamy" speech. I also pulled up the documentaries showing the footage of the aftermath.   Reminded them that their Grandpa served in that war, on a ship that got torpedoed (navy version, Dad's version was a Kamikaze) the USS CANBERRA. 

Don,  It's a standard (now a days) that when a ship goes to General Quarters, they close all the hatches & make her water tight etc.  Condition Zebra.  This prevents total flooding if a serious hit is taken at or below the water line and will save the ship, although the sailors in the flooded compartments are lost.  There is just no way you will open that hatch because you may never get it closed again and you'll lose the whole ship. Opening a hatch unauthorized under Condition Zebra is a serious breach of discipline.
 My old man survived his ships damage, but he lost 38 shipmates.  It was still hard for him to talk about it even forty years later.  He was a Fireman first class (engine room man, kept those boilers burning, also about 25ft below the waterline) I could never ever have served in the engine room of a ship, or some isolated compartment in battle.  Let alone have the discipline to hear your shipmates dying on the other side of that bulkhead.

[Burt]

I cant believe that no one posted anything yesterday about Pearl Harbor Day! !

        

December 7, 1941 a day my mother experienced

November 22, 1963 my experience

September 11, 2001 my daughter's experience

Also my date of license December 7, 1959

[WA1GFZ]

My Dad's ride to japan was also below the water line but he got outside once in a while.
He always said the guys in the subs got the best hotels on leave because it was such a hard life. A friend's Dad was a sub commander his mom had quite the stories.

[KX5JT]

It's hard to believe what our soldiers went through during this war.  Of course it happened way before I was born but I watched the Tom Hanks/Steven Speilburg production "The Pacific".  It was very graphic and I was horrified while watching the Marines make the landing at Guadalcanal and other places.  It was way too much carnage.  Wave after wave.   All I can say to anyone who participated in our military during that war and others is THANK YOU.

THANK YOU for protecting our freedom!!

[K1JJ]

My Dad's ride to japan was also below the water line but he got outside once in a while.
He always said the guys in the subs got the best hotels on leave because it was such a hard life. A friend's Dad was a sub commander his mom had quite the stories.

My dad was a signalman on a Navy ship. I have a picture of him in uniform with the semaphore flags as the arm insignia.   He said daily life was OK being up on deck most of the time. But the poor guy ended up catching pneumonia in the humid South Pacific environment and losing half a lung. That was the end of his Navy career.   Yes, it was a brutal life for some in the service back then.

Hard to believe how many people lost their lives in that war.   Upwards of 50 million.   Staggering.


Hats off to the Great Generation.

T

[K9PNP]

I'm at work, so don't have access to my library.  But, the book "Battleship Sailor" was written by a Naval Reserve radioman.  I remember his comments on Main Radio having only 1 hatch and it was sealed from outside during General Quarters.  I have much respect for Navy personnel.  I could not operate on the oceans.  Guess that's why I enlisted in the Army like my dad and his brothers.  Used have a hole to get into when it gets too unfriendly; not so much now.  Different times.

I always remember the message reporting the attack.  "air raid pearl harbor x this is no drill".  70 years ago.  Too many people have forgotten it and its 'lessons learned'.  It is also interesting that the Opana Point radar tracked the raid for some time after the initial report that was ignored.

[The Slab Bacon]

All of the pain, suffering, and sacrifices that were made during that era are absolutely mind-boggling! ! ! ! ! ! !  Probably uncomprehendable to many of those out there today. My hat goes off to all of those brave men who paid the price and made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our world free!!

To all of the former combat veterans, both then and now, I salute you all and will forever be in your debt! God Bless you all!

Now, in this era of the "Me" generation, how many would be willing to make those king of sacrifices now. Could we survive and defend ourselves if there were to be a war that reached American soil? ? ?

[k4kyv]

All of the pain, suffering, and sacrifices that were made during that era are absolutely mind-boggling! ! ! ! ! ! !  Probably uncomprehendable to many of those out there today. My hat goes off to all of those brave men who paid the price and made the ultimate sacrifice to keep out world free!!

To all of the former combat veterans, both then and now, I salute you all and will forever be in your debt! God Bless you all!

Now, in this era of the "Me" generation, how many would be willing to make those king of sacrifices now.

Still, many of those vets (who made it back and who didn't) were reluctant heroes at best.  They didn't want to be there, but served because they had no choice: conscription. Their greatest act of "heroism" was to accept their fate instead trying to dodge the draft. Some thought that would be wrong and went ahead to do their fair share, others were merely scared of getting in trouble.

Could we survive and defend ourselves if there were to be a war that reached American soil? ? ?

I would tend to be optimistic (if that's the appropriate word to use) that we could. Remember, the country did briefly come together following the events of 11SE01. That united front may well have sustained itself had there been subsequent waves of attacks on US soil.

[W8VG]

Guys--this is great thread--great to read.

Wonder if anyone saw the 2 hr special on History Channel weds night--was about the first 24 hours after Pearl Harbor--events leading up to the Presidents address to Congress the next day.  Absolutely fascinating--I hope they re-air it soon.  There are alot of broadcast soundbites on the web from that afternoon--you can easily surf them up.  Listening to them can still give you goosebumps.   

I was fortunate enough to read mail on a 20 meter ssb roundtable 10 years ago right about time of the 60th anniversary.  Roy Neal K6DUE was telling his buds about his activities that day--working for some small radio station.  They were covering religious services when the bell started ringing on the wire service TTY's in the news room--indicating flash traffic.   He'd never heard them ring before and he immediately interrupted the religious programming to read the flash over air.   His boss called him to chew him out for interrupting the program but 10 mins later the station owner called and told him to read each and every report as they came across news wire.  Said it was the busiest afternoon and evening of his career.

My Dad was still in HS and was playing pinball in the local Rexall drugstore when they turned up the radio.  A year and half later, he was signalman on USS Mississippi (BB41) in South Pacific.  When he came out after the war, he'd just turned 20 and had seven battlestars on his campaign ribbon--that was 4 more than I had after 30 years in service <hihi>.  Those guys were truly the greatest and most were just kids.  They came thru the depression only to face the war.  I'm sorry that so many are gone and wished I'd paid more attention but like so many kids just wasn't interested at the time. 

73's
Geo W8VG/6

[AJ1G]

Someone on the old MILRAD net Saturday mentioned that he once met a PH vet who was a ham, who was actually on the air from one of the battleships on the ham bands at the start of the attack.  Apparently the CO would let the hams do some operating from the ship's radio room on Sunday mornings in port. The PH ham said  there were other ships in the harbor in the QSO and all of a sudden everyone started mentioning all the planes flying around and then all hell broke loose.

[KB2WIG]

The following is from

http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm


Another pound the head on the wall and ask "why"?

"

The duty officer at U.S. Asiatic Fleet headquarters in Manila first received word of the Pearl Harbor attack at 0230 on 8 December 1941, but a full hour passed before Brig. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, MacArthur's chief of staff, heard the news from commercial broadcasts. He immediately notified MacArthur and all commanders that a state of war now existed with Japan. MacArthur ordered his troops to battle stations.

 

Despite this warning, when the Japanese pilots of the 11th Air Fleet attacked Clark Field nine hours later, they caught two squadrons of B-17s lined up on the field and a number of American fighters just preparing to take off. The first wave of twenty-seven Japanese twin-engine bombers achieved complete tactical surprise and destroyed most of the American heavy bombers. A second bomber strike followed while Zero fighters strafed the field. Only three P-40s managed to take off. A simultaneous attack on Iba Field in northwest Luzon was also successful: all but two of the 3d Squadron's P-40s were destroyed. The Far East Air Force lost fully half its planes the first day of the war.

 

The Japanese success in the Philippines hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor has sparked controversy with much finger-pointing that has endured to this day. General Brereton later wrote that he repeatedly sought permission before the attack to launch his B-17s against the Japanese aircraft in Formosa, but General Sutherland denied his requests and also denied him access to MacArthur. MacArthur later insisted that he was unaware of Brereton's request, adding that such a move would have been ill conceived anyway because USAFFE lacked intelligence concerning likely targets. For his part Sutherland claimed that he had ordered Brereton to transfer his bombers away from Clark Field to the relative safety of Mindanao to the south; Brereton countered that he could not have fully complied with the order because of the impending arrival of a new bombardment group from Hawaii. Officers stationed at Clark Field later disagreed about whether their installation had even received warning of the approaching aircraft as the attack was about to start.

[flintstone mop]

Guys--this is great thread--great to read.

Wonder if anyone saw the 2 hr special on History Channel weds night--was about the first 24 hours after Pearl Harbor--events leading up to the Presidents address to Congress the next day.  Absolutely fascinating--I hope they re-air it soon.  There are alot of broadcast soundbites on the web from that afternoon--you can easily surf them up.  Listening to them can still give you goosebumps.   

I was fortunate enough to read mail on a 20 meter ssb roundtable 10 years ago right about time of the 60th anniversary.  Roy Neal K6DUE was telling his buds about his activities that day--working for some small radio station.  They were covering religious services when the bell started ringing on the wire service TTY's in the news room--indicating flash traffic.   He'd never heard them ring before and he immediately interrupted the religious programming to read the flash over air.   His boss called him to chew him out for interrupting the program but 10 mins later the station owner called and told him to read each and every report as they came across news wire.  Said it was the busiest afternoon and evening of his career.

My Dad was still in HS and was playing pinball in the local Rexall drugstore when they turned up the radio.  A year and half later, he was signalman on USS Mississippi (BB41) in South Pacific.  When he came out after the war, he'd just turned 20 and had seven battlestars on his campaign ribbon--that was 4 more than I had after 30 years in service <hihi>.  Those guys were truly the greatest and most were just kids.  They came thru the depression only to face the war.  I'm sorry that so many are gone and wished I'd paid more attention but like so many kids just wasn't interested at the time. 

73's
Geo W8VG/6

I saw the special. It was one of the better "re-enactments" of history. And a good mix from the actual footage and photos of the total damage.
My dad was assigned to help clean up the dead bodies. When 9/11 hit he was crying that day because of the memories of Pearl Harbor and almost the same number of humans killed in one tragic instant.
Fred

[KX5JT]

....
Now, in this era of the "Me" generation, how many would be willing to make those king of sacrifices now. Could we survive and defend ourselves if there were to be a war that reached American soil? ? ?

I have faith in our youth.  My son volunteered for the U.S. Navy and finished recently.  My nephew spent 2 years in the Army serving in Iraq.  I have a female co-worker that is now deployed driving truck in convoys in Afghanistan.  If the fan is ever hit with excrement again, I think you might be surprised at those that will answer the call of duty.