Results 1 to 12 of 12
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    Saturday, December 7: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2013

    To all who died and survived and their families: Thank you for your sacrifices.
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    brooklyn
    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    To all who died and survived and their families: Thank you for your sacrifices.
    amen.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Norfolk, VA

    Fate of the Japanese attackers

    The Japanese Strike Force which attacked Pearl Harbor was centered around six aircraft carriers: Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku.

    Four of the six carriers were sunk seven months later at the Battle of Midway on June 4 and 5, 1942. Shokaku and Zuikaku did not participate in the Midway attack due to being back in Japan undergoing repairs for damage incurred during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.

    Shokaku was sunk during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19, 1944; while Zuikaku was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944.

    Admiral Nagumo committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan on July 6, 1944.

    Flight Leader Fuchida whose plane signaled "Tora! Tora! Tora!" survived the war and died on May 30, 1976.

    Commander Genda, the primary architect of the attack plan, survived the war and died on August 15, 1989.
    Bob Green

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    About 150 feet in front of the Duke Chapel doors.
    My visit to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor was one of the most powerful experiences I've had visiting military sites. Afterwards, I visited my second cousin's grave in the Punchbowl and had a rather one-sided chat with him. (He died off Iwo Jima from a kamikaze attack.)

    God bless all those who volunteer to serve and put themselves in harms way to defend our nation.
    JBDuke

    Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”

  5. #5

    December 7th, 1941

    Ever since I can remember, there's been a tribute to Pearl Harbor on December 7th on the DBR front page. Did I miss that somewhere on the new site?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lewisville, NC
    Thanks for the thread.

    This day brings to mind a story about my Dad. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, he was a college sophomore playing touch football with friends. On Monday morning, December 8, he was at the local recruitment center signing up to serve. He eventually became part of the Army Corps of Engineers and spent time in France both during and immediately after the war. Instead of being in the Class of 1944, he was in the Class of 1947.

    I lost my Dad about a year ago, and so many of those who fought in WWII are gone now. We honor them and thank them.

  7. #7

    Saturday, December 7; Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2013

    As a long standing Duke tradition, Handel's Messiah is being sung today as it was on December 7, 1941. An alumnus later recounted that he came out of the Chapel to see groups of students scattered about campus discussing the surprise attack, which of course altered all of their lives. He later was on duty in the Pacific when Armed Forces interrupted its broadcast to announce that Japan had surrendered and then it played the Hallelujah Chorus. He said thereafter the Messiah always meant the beginning and end of WWII to him.
    That Sunday on campus also considerably dampened the enthusiasm of being selected for the Rose Bowl the previous weekend. It is hard to identify with the roller coaster of emotions experienced by students in December,1941 and the changes thereafter. The women stayed on the semester system through the war but the men went to a quarter system with multiple graduations to get the majority of ROTC students into the war effort.

    The most poignant Duke story from that war I heard was of a solitary encounter on an isolated, probably unnamed island in the Pacific. A few men had set up a temporary air base for repair and rescue of planes and airmen in distress as needed. One day a single plane with only a pilot landed and much to their surprise two Duke fraternity brothers met in that improbable location. They talked away the night about school and mutual friends before separation the next day. The repairman learned after the war that his Duke buddy died soon thereafter in battle.

    Next time you are on campus walk by the memorial which identifies Duke students by name who have died in the military that is located on the wall between the Chapel and the new Divinity School building. When established it was a quiet area to the right of the Chapel along the path from the main quad to the Engineering Building.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Colorado
    I always think of my father in law on this day. He was a senior in high school on December 7, 1941. He joined the Navy before graduation and served with great honor on the U.S.S. New Jersey which had significant action in the South Pacific. He never bragged about it. Years later, at battleship reunions, we heard of his heroism. Remarkable, humble, blue collar guy.

    Apparently Admiral Halsey was on the U.S.S. New Jersey for most of the action. My father in law, until the day he died, was quite irritated that the peace treaty with Japan was signed on the U.S.S. Missouri.

  9. #9

    peace treaty

    Quote Originally Posted by MartyClark View Post
    I always think of my father in law on this day. He was a senior in high school on December 7, 1941. He joined the Navy before graduation and served with great honor on the U.S.S. New Jersey which had significant action in the South Pacific. He never bragged about it. Years later, at battleship reunions, we heard of his heroism. Remarkable, humble, blue collar guy.

    Apparently Admiral Halsey was on the U.S.S. New Jersey for most of the action. My father in law, until the day he died, was quite irritated that the peace treaty with Japan was signed on the U.S.S. Missouri.
    Of course, the treaty was signed on the Missouri in order to curry favor with a certain Missouri native in the White House.

    If Halsey had of chosen the site with an eye to history, I think he would have chosen the carrier Enterprise, his flagship at the time of Pearl Harbor and the most decorated warship in WWII (from her decks flew the planes that sunk three of the six carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor).

    Either the Big E or one of the battleships raised from the mud of Pearl Harbor (although I think they were with the Seventh Fleet and weren't present at Tokyo Bay for the surrender).

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Atlanta 'burbs
    Quote Originally Posted by MartyClark View Post
    I always think of my father in law on this day. He was a senior in high school on December 7, 1941. He joined the Navy before graduation and served with great honor on the U.S.S. New Jersey which had significant action in the South Pacific. He never bragged about it. Years later, at battleship reunions, we heard of his heroism. Remarkable, humble, blue collar guy.

    Apparently Admiral Halsey was on the U.S.S. New Jersey for most of the action. My father in law, until the day he died, was quite irritated that the peace treaty with Japan was signed on the U.S.S. Missouri.
    My dad was outside Tokyo Harbor on a destroyer for the peace treaty. They were running anti-submarine patrol, as some of the Japanese subs were unaware of the surrender, and we didn't want some random Japanese sub coming into their harbor and seeing/sinking U.S. Navy ships.

    When I was in the Navy, I got to go on board a destroyer which was my dad's sister ship (we were going to use it later for target practice). Those WWII destroyers were not built for comfort. If there wasn't room for a 5" gun mount, there was a 3" mount. If not enough room for 3", anti-aircraft guns or torpedo launcher, and so on. Living quarters for the crew was whatever space was left.

    I highly recommend touring one of these old warships (such as the USS North Carolina in Wilmington) if you get a chance. It will make everyone even more appreciative of the sacrifices made by this generation.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Norfolk, VA
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Either the Big E or one of the battleships raised from the mud of Pearl Harbor (although I think they were with the Seventh Fleet and weren't present at Tokyo Bay for the surrender).
    USS West Virginia was present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender:

    http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq69-2.htm
    Bob Green

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    My wife and I flew from Maui to Oahu two years ago while attending the Maui Tournament just to go to the Arizona Memorial. I agree that it is possibly the most moving experience I have ever had. In a year when we went to Alaska, climbed the Great Wall (with the basketball team) and spent two weeks in Maui, the trip to Pearl was the highlight.

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