Day of Infamy

[Woodsheal]

Remember Pearl Harbor! 12/7/41....

[tulloch]

Indeed. We need to remember the lost and we need to learn from the following three and one-half years. Terrible things. Great things.

[cessna152towser]

No I don't remember that fateful day as it was a few years before I was born, though I have seen the film.
My parents' generation were thankful because the event brought the previously neutral USA into the 1939-45 war on Britain's side and ultimately turned the tide in the European, African and Asian theatres of the confrontation.
How things change though. Britain and USA, the wartime allies nowadays put all sorts of barriers on travel and immigration between each other, yet Britain is now allied with its former enemies Germany and Italy as members of the European Union with freedom of movement between their countries. Indeed I live with a lovely German lady who chose to settle here in Scotland.

[MNlad]

I was fortunate enough to have a witness of that fateful attack as a high school history teacher. He was a Japanese-American in Honolulu, Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He promptly enlisted and served with the Nisei forces in Europe, ending his military career as a captain. Meanwhile, his parents were placed in an internment camp.

There were a lot of sad lessons we can learn from that terrible conflict, if only we would take the time to really study history. While I don't personally remember Pearl Harbor, that gentleman taught me a lesson I will never forget.

[Peter Crowe]

There were a lot of sad lessons we can learn from that terrible conflict, if only we would take the time to really study history.

Indeed and very well stated, but if ever there was a just war (IMHO) it was WWII. We should never forget it's lessons, and I respect and honour the fallen and the veterans of all the Allied powers who fought against Nazism, Fascism and Japanese Militarism.

[Really a McQueen]

I was fortunate enough to have a witness of that fateful attack as a high school history teacher. ... While I don't personally remember Pearl Harbor, that gentleman taught me a lesson I will never forget.

Like you, my life has been touched by gentleman who was there, that fateful morning.

My neighbor, Gordon, was a naval aviation mate, stationed at the naval air station at Pearl Harbor. When the heck broke loose, Gordon responded to arms locker where the Navy stored the machine guns for the PBY's, etc., that were in for maintenance, and grabbed a gun, while another seaman got some ammunition. They then went to a nearby test mount, where a third sailor had already removed the retaining pins, that kept the mount in a fixed direction (towards target butts), they mounted, and loaded the machine gun, and between them, did their best to put return fire on the enemy aircraft.

[TheOfficialBren]

I was fortunate enough to have a witness of that fateful attack as a high school history teacher. He was a Japanese-American in Honolulu, Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He promptly enlisted and served with the Nisei forces in Europe, ending his military career as a captain. Meanwhile, his parents were placed in an internment camp.

There were a lot of sad lessons we can learn from that terrible conflict, if only we would take the time to really study history. While I don't personally remember Pearl Harbor, that gentleman taught me a lesson I will never forget.

Was he, by any chance, a member of the 442nd Infantry ("Go For Broke"), the most decorated American unit of the Second World War? They were part of the. Italian campaign.

[MNlad]

I'm afraid I don't have an answer to that. If he ever mentioned his regiment, I don't remember. It was only several years after I was out of High School that I learned of the exploits of those boys. They and the 332 Fighter group showed our nation what it means to be an American first, regardless of your origin. They fought with distinction.

[TheOfficialBren]

MNlad, thank you for sharing. I definately hear you on that.