Aye Mates,
Let us all take a moment today to remember those valiant souls lost as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Freedom is not free. 🇺🇸
With utmost respect,
Mike
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Aye Mates,
Let us all take a moment today to remember those valiant souls lost as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Freedom is not free. 🇺🇸
With utmost respect,
Mike
Thanks for posting this Mike. This was a very sad day in American history, and what's even sadder is every day we lose more and more WWII veterans. The no longer have the ceremony at the Arizona Memorial with the survivors, as there are so few now, and many have difficulty making the trip to Hawaii. I've been to Pearl Harbor, and the USS Arizona Memorial many times on my visits to Hawaii, the first time as a young 19 year old Airman in 1978. These pictures were taken on a trip we made in 2006. I still get goosebumps just looking at the pictures, as I did during my visits. You can still see oil coming up from the ship as you look out over the hull. A powerful place.
Looking across the harbor at the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial.
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1736-XL.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1733-XL.jpg
Docking at the USS Arizona Memorial. The shuttle boats to the memorial are operated by active duty US Navy Seaman.
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1742-XL.jpg
Look at the USS Arizona Memorial from the deck of the USS Missouri.
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1767-XL.jpg
Inside the Memorial
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1749-X2.jpg
Gun turret on the USS Arizona
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1747-X2.jpg
This marker is on the port side deck of the USS Missouri.
https://photos.smugmug.com/USS-Arizo...17_1759-X2.jpg
God rest these warriors that gave all to save us from certain tyranny.
Irishwhistler
My Dad fought in WWII, not in the Pacific however. Strangely enough, he died 8 years ago today, on Pearl Harbor Day. RIP, Dad.
Attachment 7060
GOD REST YE DAD MATE AND HEARTFELT THANKS FOR HIS SERVICE.Quote:
Originally Posted by smartrock
Irishshiwtler
Thank you very much for posting this.
Yes, remember the day, the men and women who lost their lives. Think about fate, the Japanese concentrating on the ships instead of the fuel tank farms, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise only a few hours out of Pearl. Had those two targets been seriously damaged the Pacific Fleet may have had to retreat to the West Coast, seriously changing the arc of the Pacific campaign. Nevertheless the arcs of so many millions of lives were forever changed. Three of those lives changed the arc of my own life.
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My Uncle Bill lost part of his arm on Tarawa. Uncle Joe was an LSO on the USS Kalinin Bay during the Battle Off Samar. My dad was a Troop Carriers pilot in the North African, Italian, and northwest Europe theatres.
Here he is in early 1943, a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant.
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...687198/enhance
He flew this C-47 across the Mediterranean from Sicily to Tunisia at night after it was seriously damaged by friendly fire and the pilots were grievously wounded.
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...275865/enhance
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...288558/enhance
Thankfully dad was not hurt - physically. Dad was not assigned to the mission; he basically went along for the ride. Had he not the plane would likely have crashed with its load of paratroopers.
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We owe so much to the millions of men and women who served.