What a day it was. What began as an air attack, that fateful Sunday morning, was rightfully ended with the dropping of a single bomb on a Thursday just shy of five-years later.
And, in between was a whole lot of mayhem.
While the two, top photos are easily recognized as Hickam Field and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, the battleship shown (BB-43), is the U.S.S. Tennessee, which was at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. It was also the boat my current neighbor served upon the duration of World War II.
While Frank was only 17-years old at the time, he lied about his age to get into the U.S. Navy and serve his country. Today, 17-year olds have a nervous breakdown if their iPhone batteries go dead. How times, and people, have changed.
We don't make 'em like my neighbor Frank, anymore. The people of his generation are passing-on, and the stories they told (and the values they held) may sadly die with them if we refuse to remember, and to honor, them.
My last stepdad was in the Navy at 18. He served on destroyers escorting merchant marine ships across the north atlantic. Saw a lot of ships blown up. They were recalled to Newport News, refitted and resupplied and headed south. 2 weeks later they steamed into Pearl, where bodies were still floating and debris littered the harbor. He spent the duration on a tin can destroyer snarling at the Japanese in coves where the larger ships couldn't get in and out of preparing them for landing forces. He saw friends shot while standing next to them from strafing planes. He didn't hate the Japanese, he said they were doing their duty just like he was doing his.
ReplyDeleteMy half brother was shot inland from Normandie and was shipped to a POW camp in Poland. He was repatriated at the end of the war and sent to rehab in Florida for 2 months and then sent home. My dad met him in Chicago and hardly recognised him. It was odd that he was sent to Europe, because he was a German speaker. Most of them went to the Pacific. He met Eisenhower before the invasion.
There are so many things we won't forget, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Kennedy, Viet Nam, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and what will there be for my grandchildren.