Pearl Harbor Day

[devildeac]

Just remember, it wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

Seriously, many thanks to those who lost their lives that day and thinking about their families in our hearts and prayers.

[OldPhiKap]

Amen to that. My grandfather was in the Air Corps at Hickam Air Base that morning. He, Grandma, my mom and uncle all survived thankfully.

[moonpie23]

Amen to that. My grandfather was in the Air Corps at Hickam Air Base that morning. He, Grandma, my mom and uncle all survived thankfully.

my dad was a marine in the south pacific during wwII...he wouldn't talk about the things he did. Somehow he knew about the enola gay before it took off....from the few things he would talk about, it seemed that it was a different war than the european theater.

he feared nuclear war, and during the cuban missile crisis, he started building a bomb shelter under our house...

i miss him every day....

[roywhite]

On Sunday, December 7, 1941 my Dad was a college sophomore playing touch football with friends when he heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On Monday, December 8, he enlisted in the Army.
Ended up serving in the Army Corps of Engineers and graduating with the class of 1947 instead of 1944.

We owe a lot to people who have sacrificed in order to serve our country and protect our freedom.

[Olympic Fan]

My Dad graduated from Durham High in the spring of 1941.

He didn't have enough money for college and after working a few months at American Tobacco, he tried to enlist in the Army, but was turned down for bad eye-siight.

Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, he got a draft notice and suddenly his eyesight wasn't as big a problem. He served briefly in the 82nd, but was moved as cadre to the new 63rd division. He arrived in Marsailles on Chrismas Day, 1944 and his unit was rushed to the front to take part in the final days of the Battle of the Bulge. He was in almost continuous combat until the end of the way in May.

Dad told me that they were preparing for transfer to the Pacific when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshime. He always used to get angry when he read or heard anybody criticize Truman for using the bomb. He was convinced that without it, he would have been in the first wave of troops landing in Japan.

Anyway, all honor to his generation. You can only admire what they did and how their victory shaped the postwar world.

PS My father did get to go to college on the GI Bill, graduating from Duke in 1949. Has their ever been a piece of social legislation that proved more beneficial to the country in the long run?

[Jarhead]

My Dad graduated from Durham High in the spring of 1941.

He didn't have enough money for college and after working a few months at American Tobacco, he tried to enlist in the Army, but was turned down for bad eye-siight.

Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, he got a draft notice and suddenly his eyesight wasn't as big a problem. He served briefly in the 82nd, but was moved as cadre to the new 63rd division. He arrived in Marsailles on Chrismas Day, 1944 and his unit was rushed to the front to take part in the final days of the Battle of the Bulge. He was in almost continuous combat until the end of the way in May.

Dad told me that they were preparing for transfer to the Pacific when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshime. He always used to get angry when he read or heard anybody criticize Truman for using the bomb. He was convinced that without it, he would have been in the first wave of troops landing in Japan.

Anyway, all honor to his generation. You can only admire what they did and how their victory shaped the postwar world.

PS My father did get to go to college on the GI Bill, graduating from Duke in 1949. Has their ever been a piece of social legislation that proved more beneficial to the country in the long run?

I was just a kid on that Sunday in December, and I really didn't understand what was going on. The adults in my family, and in the neighborhood, were quite upset, I could tell. I was more interested in reading the funny papers. Within a few days, though I began to understand. My dad was 38, and he tried to enlist which made me both proud and afraid. They didn't take him. He worked in the War Department, and 38 was a bit much at that stage. As I gained more understanding, I began listening to the radio accounts. One thing that stays in my mind is the story of Colin P. Kelly, one of the first heroes in the war. When I heard of what he and his B-17 crew did I was happy as well as proud, but I cried when I heard that he and his crew died after sinking a Japanese cruiser.

I remember all of the home front problems and the neighbors leaving for war. By the end of the summer of '42, things changed for our next door neighbor. He was older than Dad, but he was drafted. I remember the folks in the neighborhood gathering at the bus stop on the corner to give him a big send off. Later on that evening we were all out front wondering how Ralph was doing. That's when the last bus of the day stopped at the corner, and Ralph got off, in uniform. When they found out what he did for a living they put him at Ft. Belvoir, just a short bus ride down the Potomac River. He was a heavy equipment operator, and he spent most of the war as an instructor at the engineer school at Belvoir. In Early '45 he did go to Europe, though. There was a pretty high demand for heavy equipment operators. He made it to Tech Sergeant before going.

My sophomore year in high school was ending as the war ended in Europe in May of that year, and a little later Harry dropped the bomb. We had no idea of the power of that bomb, but who cared. It ended the war. I made the football team that fall, and ole Rasty Doran, the coach kept on my tail. College was not yet on my mind. Nobody in my family had been to college before. Coach kept telling us to get ready for college, but football wasn't going to get me there. When I heard about the WWII GI Bill, that made sense to me. It was still in effect, because the Articles of Surrender had not yet been ratified. So, I enlisted in the Marine Corps.

After my time in the Marine Corps, I was fortunate to get accepted at Duke. I had not finished high school, but I had done enough in the Corps to satisfy Bill Brinkly in the admissions office. I got a free ride with the GI Bill which included a monthly stipend of $75 per month. After two years, though, I was called back in the Marines for the Korean War. I was able to finish my BA degree requirements later, and I retired from the Marines in 1970. The GI Bill was a blessing that I will be forever grateful. It really changed America, including the colleges. The veterans were more mature, and took things seriously. Pre-war students did well to maintain a C average, and at Duke there was about a one third dropout rate. It was referred to as a gentlemanly C. It was all you needed to get into a fraternity. The veterans changed all that. Grades went up like a sky rocket.

World War II was a sea change for the whole world, but did we learn anything from that? Well the wars have been a lot smaller, but just as painful. I am so glad to see on the news every evening accounts of troops returning home. God bless them all.

On a recent, about five years ago, visit to Hawaii, in early December, Mrs. Jarhead and I were at the Arizona Memorial on December 7. A pretty large contingent of survivors of the attack was in attendance. Not only American veterans, but a number of Japanese survivors were there also. All of the vets got along like old buddies. It was heart warming

[moonpie23]

speaking of veterans and dads during that era, does anyone here have a connection with anyone on the Duke Football team that played in the east coast rose bowl?

[moonpie23]

He always used to get angry when he read or heard anybody criticize Truman for using the bomb.

this, and the cuban missile crisis are two gut-wrenching predicaments ....

history...