Pearl Harbor Day

[jayb]

Let's not forget the sacrifices of our armed forces during WWII, starting of course on December 7, 1941.  My wife's great uncle was on the USS Arizona, and was blown clear in the explosion.  He survived that day, and the war, and lived a long life as an Iowa farmer.  When  he died in 1989, they took his ashes and scattered them over the wreck of the Arizona in Pearl Harbor.  He was the first sailor that survived from the Arizona that had that done; last time I was at the Memorial there were probably 30 names on the plaque memorializing those who had their ashes scattered there, and he was the first one.  I never had the honor of meeting him, unfortunately (didn't meet my wife until 1992).

On the WWII topic, there's a new movie coming out called "Unbroken", about Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete turned soldier, castaway, and prisoner of war in the Pacific Theater.  I've read the book, and it is outstanding.  The movie looks pretty good too, judging by the commercials...

[fe66comet]

Life in the world was forever changed that day.

[machoneman]

Yep, we owe a lot to our vets!

What became legend in my family's history was Uncle Walter Maag's story starting in the early hours of December 7th, 1941. My dad's older brother, Walt had enlisted in the Navy as a career in 1938. On that fateful day, he was chief petty officer on WWI era 4-stack destroyer based in San Diego cruising off the SoCal coast.

At the time of the Hawaii attack they were receiving strange radio reports from the San Diego base as well as local L.A. and San Diego radio stations. Not long after, they got coded instructions to prepare for war conditions and report in on the ship's status....pitiful!  As the senior grunt as petty officers were called, he took the condition report to the 1st officer and captain immediately. No torpedoes, no depth charges, no rounds for the cannons, no 20mm ammo....nothing! All they had was a carbine and the .45 automatic kept in the captain's safe! The captain radioed in and asked to hit shore for re-loading.

He was told to stay out and, if needed, ram any Japanese subs or ships!   

Later that day, near evening IIRC, cooler heads prevailed and they were instructed to steam north to the Mare Island (NE San Francisco Bay) base to load ammo and weapons. So, at top speed the ship headed north at night with the intent to arrive just after dawn. So they did but in the misty off shore fog that a.m. they had to pass the Army manned shore batteries at Fort Miley just south and west of the S.F. Golden Gate bridge. Lo and behold, the heavy artillery units mistook them for a Japanese ship and opened fire! Soon 12” shells were whizzing overhead and straddled the ship a few times, at least until frantic radio messages got them to stop shooting. Loading soon commenced and they were sent out to cruise up and down the west coast for 30 days, only stopping to refuel and no shore leave. Of course no Japanese ships appeared and soon the fear of invasion passed.

The cool part of the story was that after that 30 days w/o leave, once they docked back in San Diego on a 3-day pass, Walt grabbed a cab, went to his sweetie's home, took her to the nearest lunch counter and proposed on the spot.  They were married for 55+ years until their time ended.  My two cousins from that marriage, Rich and Carol, tell this same story now to their grandkids.
 

[BruceS]

Jay,
You're right to remind us about our Armed Forces and to remember Pearl Harbor Day and our "Greatest Generation".  I heard an interview on the radio last week of a man who was a survivor, also blown clear of his ship in the early hours of the invasion.  He said there were still about 50 living survivors.

I was thinking; what did the Greatest Generation do when they returned home?  Obviously lots of accomplishments and new businesses but some we take for granted today such as the NHRA and NASCAR.  And what was Ford's response to the competitive pressures of drag racing and stock car racing?  The high-performance versions of the FE of course!  My Dad was a WWII vet and fought in the European theatre. When he got out, he went to work for Ford in California first as a security guard and then worked his way up the ranks in the Parts and Service division.  He was a career Ford man until his passing in 1972.

Bruce