Salute to all veterans of all allied nations who put their lives on the line for freedom!!

Ironically, the war was good for Japan, also. The forcing of the people in power to admit defeat and step down was a great step toward them becoming a peaceful nation. Who would have thought 66 years ago that they would be one of our allies now.

Chuck

A bit OT: It's also interesting to note that at the end of '42, Japanese oil imports were just over 1,000,000 barrels/mo, more that enough to keep all Japanese vessels in full fuel tankage. By the end of May '44, this number was reduced to around 600,000 barrels/mo. The decimation of Japans Maritime tanker fleet was devastating to both IJN and Maritime operations. US Subs accounted for most, but not all, of this destruction. :up:

On this day in 1941, my father was an able seaman aboard the SS Lena Luckenback about 600 miles east-north-east of Oahu on the run out from San Francisco. About 300 miles to the nor-nor-east of them was the SS Cynthia Olson. My father told me of hearing her distress calls a few hours before the attack began.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4013/colsonui1.jpg

This SUP ship was the first sunk by a Japanese submarine on December 7, 1941. The attack occurred a few hours before Pearl Harbor was bombed, so the shock of the doomed sailors could not have been greater. She went down with all hands. The sinking of the Cynthia Olson symbolically represents the final intersection of two eras. Like steam replacing sail many years earlier, the onset of World War II began the replacement of many of the aging coastwise “steam schooners,” a trade that had grown with the SUP since its inception.

He pulled in to Pearl on 12/9 with bodies still floating in the water. SUP stands for Sailors Union Of The Pacific. Here's a link to their website history page. It has a photo gallery with some pics of Andrew Ferusuth, founder of the Union, who signed my grandfather's union card.

http://www.sailors.org/history.html

Aloha from Pearl Harbor
 

The ceremony is over, the Vets linger - starring out into the water now marked with white markers where a proud battle fleet once stood. Boats transiting to and from the ARIZONA, the mighty Battleship MISSOURI standing watch behind the ARIZONA truly Alpha and Omega. It is rainy here today, been like that since Monday, seems more like the Gods are crying. The memorial is marked by an over flight from the HICKAM AFB - 4 CHINHOOK Helicopters flyby in the Missing Man followed by a B-2 Bomber, The USS LAKE ERIE CG-70 passes by with her rails manned rendering honors. A rain shower starts again, echo - taps is being rendered. Today the USS OKLAHOMA Memorial is dedicated. It is somber as somber can be. Today onboard Naval Station Pearl Harbor the national anthems of the US, Australia and that of Japan where played. We are hosting ships from those nations - allies now. The JSDMF KONGO a DDG is one of those visiting. Ironic isn't it.
One other small fact - those who have visited here or are planning on it and also planning on visiting the ARIZONA Memorial should note that the number of those interned onboard changes yearly - those Sailors and Marines who died are joined by a number of there shipmates who survived them - they ask to come back and to have there urns placed back onboard the ship and to rejoin those they left behind. That plaque continues to fill up - sadly.
Mahalo to the thread and to those who remember the sacrifice.

Thanks to all Veterans that are still alive and those that gave their lives so that we can enjoy what liberties we still have.

Also thanks to all the men and women from all countries that supported us in defeating Japan!

:up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up:

Joe

A sad note:


A Veteran friend of mine mentioned that on "Veteran's Day" that not one article appeared in the newspapers. He asked me "Don't they care anymore, don't they remember?".

I said that I would "never forget' what the Veterans did for our country.

He had just turned 84 and died shortly after that. (how sad) :oops:


Joe

SALUTE!

Thank You to all who serve and have served as well as those who gave their lives.
Remember Pearl Harbor is as important a battle cry today as it was in 1941.
To be complacent or unprepared is to dishonor their memory.

Respectfully Submitted,
CDR Resser

A big salute to those who died that day.

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve"

Admiral Yamamoto right after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Corret me if im wrong, but i remember as a kid, today was marked on the calander as "pearl harbor day". So im looking at my calander here at work. It's one of those "you might be a redneck if..." calanders. You'd figure with this content, it would be careful to note certain stuff.

Dec 5 "first day of haunika"

Dec 10, "human rights day".


Uhhh wait a minute here, they forgot something in between. Somethings wrong when were not even printing this stuff on calanders anymore.

Dec 26, boxing day?! Come on now.

As Ducimus asks "Why isn't Pearl Harbor Day marked on the calendars?

I'm old enough to remember the shock of Pearl Harbor. My father was in the RCN on an auxiliary cruiser stationed out of Jamaice fighting the war in the Atlantic. They were given an hour to get steam up to head to Esquimalt (north of Seattle) to defend the Pacific coast. Most of the US Pacific fleet had been sunk or damaged, and they were one of the few ships available. As Canadians we were glad the US was finally in the war as allies, because we now knew we could win. Britain and the dominions like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. were stretched thin and losing almost everywhere. Those of us who fight the U-boat war in SH3 know how close the Germans came to winning the Battle of the Atlantic, even after the US came in.

I've stood on the Arizona Monument and asked the same question that Ducimus did. He added Roosevelts's quote "I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us." The Britians were suckered into giving Hilter a second chance at Munich. The US was blind-sided by Pearl Harbor. We were all blind-sided again on 9/11. Don't we ever learn there is no substitute for constant vigilance?

As an old adage says "Those that do not study history are doomed to repeat it!" I'm not in favor of war, no one is, but we need to teach young people the lessons of history more. We live in the some of the most democratic countries in the world, but do so only because tens of thousands of brave young men died to give us that freedom. Marking the days they died on the calendars would be a start.

Hindsight is always 20/20
 

I guess this needs to be a different thread as it is about the events surrounding Pearl this day in 1941.
Hindsight is always 20/20 period. The US will be vigilant. One can never accurately predict the next sneak attack - ever. Yes there are signs but working in the Intel field these are estimates - when we look at our best guess we escalate and then we get even more hindsight after the mess if there is an error. The only way a country can ever justify the means is after a sacrifice such as Pearl. It would have been fantastic if it could have been prevented. But had Pearl not happened - it would have been a much uglier and worse world (my guess) as we would be speaking German or something else. Pearl Harbor was a tragedy but in the end it was the catalyst needed to unify a Nation that would later become a Juggernaut and ultimately teach a Military Regime and those that follow it this - This far and no further - we will give you no ground and shall protect ours and that of our allies as sacred. We will do it at any cost. It is our right to be free, to practice what beliefs we hold dear, to have a chance at at a better life. No military crack pot or religious zealot will ever be allowed to take these away from us because of the guys who stood the watch December 7th. September 11 and who continue to do so. It is not just America's military - it is simply America and her people that make us and keep us. To our close friends overseas I also salute those events that define you as a nation and to the support and common beliefs we all share.

A couple of seconds to remember the innocent victims of governments unable to settle down their differences other than through violence is never too much to ask.
Just remembering that some can't remember anymore!
GHWY

Both your post were great Scrag.:up:

Let us not forget the past lest we be doomed to repeat it.