DO YOU REMEMBER 12/7/1941?

[crazyphil]

My Dad was a section hand on the U.P. Railroad at the time.
The section foreman was a Japanese American, and he was
regularly telling the men that the Japanese were going to
attack. It wasn't a secret. As I recall, the foreman and his
family were put in an internment camp for the duration of the
war.

 

[Jet guy]

Sunday, December 7, 1941, in the Cumberland Gap

I was 7 1/2 and remembered our family in Middlesboro, KY, was glued to the radio. There was crying and talk of war. I wondered - Whats War? All the guys were ready and anxious to enlist to fight the Nazis and the Japs. Everyone was patriotic - no dissenters. As time passed, we had family members wounded and killed. There was food, gas and shoe rationing. What wasn't rationed, just wasn't available. No bikes, cars, metal toys, radios and the like. We collected scrap metal, bacon grease, tin cans, bought "War Stamps and Bonds". We had "black outs" and a genuine fear that we may not win this war!

Looking back - It hardly seems real. . .

 

[crazyphil]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana

 

[crazyphil]

I took my family to Hawaii, it must have been 30 or 40 years ago. We
visited the Arizona Memorial. Went into the theater to watch the little
movie. Best that I can remember, it seated around 200 I would guess.
My family and I were the only Occidentals. All the rest of the crowd was
Japanese tourists. It was very quiet.

 

[llowry61]

I dated a Japanese girl from Hawaii back in the 80's. Her mom had been placed in an internment camp with her family as a child. It is a dirty little secret that is not spoken about much in the US, but it happened and was really unnecessary. There was a much higher likelihood that there were German or even Italian spies in the US at the time.

 

[crazyphil]

They were paid reparations amounting to about $20,000 each, but that
was many years after you dated the girl in the 80s. Not much for spending
4 years in a concentration camp, but better than nothing.

 

[max]

In 1972, I met Pete. He was at Pearl that day. He was in a mess hall when they hit. He and another guy ran into the kitchen and hid behind a large stove. A bomb landed nearby and the entire room was sprayed with broken glass. People he had been sitting with were killed.

He left the mess hall and was running toward his duty station. He was strafed by a Zero and he said it was so close, he could see the pilot's eyes.

That night, weapons were handed out and Pete was offered a 1911. He refused it and said "I want something I can hit somebody with." He was given a shotgun and was happy. There were many rumors about Japanese paratroopers coming and their was no communication with the mainland. Needless to say rumors were abundant.

Both of his eardrums were ruptured that day and it ended his flying career. He stayed in for 40 years and became an E-9. His last duty station was with the unit that maintained Air Force 1. He and his wife went back to Hawaii every year for the reunions as long as their health allowed.

He was still flying his own plane when I met him and continued to fly up into his 80's. He and his wife had no children and had traveled the world, including several years stationed in Alaska. Pete loved to fish and enjoyed his Alaskan time. He bought a Model 27 to carry while fishing. The Model 29 came out soon after and he wished he could have waited for that gun.

Pete died several years ago and his wife 2 years ago. He taught me a great deal in the time I got to spend with him. He taught me about good whiskey among other things.

I will think about Pete tomorrow and our time together.

Back in February, we got to Pearl Harbor for the first time. We spent most of a day there and did all of the tourist things. It was a very memorable and moving day. One of the names on the Arizona Memorial was a HS classmate of my late mother in law. We have a letter he wrote her and are working to find any family he might have left so we can give them the letter if they want.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I just spoke to mom. She said food was tightly rationed. Families were allowed only one egg per person per week and folks had to make meals out of what was available.

Manna arrived in the form of Spam.

Dad used to say that out of all the outfits that served in the ETO, including his, he held the Merchant Marines in their flimsy, slow, defenseless Liberty Ships in the highest regard. He said those guys must have clanged when they walked.

 

[Justin T]

I just spoke to mom. She said food was tightly rationed. Families were allowed only one egg per person per week and folks had to make meals out of what was available.

Manna arrived in the form of Spam.

Dad used to say that out of all the outfits that served in the ETO, including his, he held the Merchant Marines in their flimsy, slow, defenseless Liberty Ships in the highest regard. He said those guys must have clanged when they walked.

Seabees, too!

 

[steelslaver]

The book HMS Ulysses by Alistair MacLean is a great story on the supply ships carrying material to Britain. Fiction based on brutal facts.

One of my sisters was born on Dec 7

 

[Warren Sear]

My mom was 6-1/2 years old on December 7, 1941. She remembers a general commotion all over her farm, but she didn't understand. She remembers her dad pacing back and forth in the living room, continually repeating, "We're at war... we're at war..."

Her older brother was in Pearl Harbor at the time. Nobody knew for a long time (maybe 6 weeks) if he was even alive. He was not hurt.

Eventually she had two other brothers who served in the war. Both saw very heavy fighting; one in North Africa, and the other in Italy. When they came home on furlough, her father was very excited to talk to his sons and get the "real" story. Of course, the last thing they ever wanted to talk about was the war.

All of her brothers were hunters, but after the war, the ones who saw real action were no longer interested in that anymore. They never said anything to anyone about it; they just quietly stopped hunting.

All of them are gone now, except for my mother. I am going to call her tonight.

 

[Texas Star]

My GD was born on Dec.7, has since graduated HS. She knows the significance, but few classmates did, or others she knows.

Our past just isn't being taught and remembered. Our nation will regret that.

 

[BigBill]

On every December 7th post 12/7/41 the Bullard company at this date at 9 am hung American flags from every over head crane and work stopped for a moment of prayer to respect those who perished on that day. This was the only machine tool company I seen do this. During the war they had a wicked snow storm. They were snowed in. Bullard asked who wants to work around the clock, everyone did plus Bullard opened the caffiteria for food and coffee. A true american company.

At my last job we couldn’t hang flags we didn’t want to diss off the people who were from other countries.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

DEC 7th

Well no, a bit before my time. I DO however remember Dec 7th 1962, the day I graduated from Marine Corps boot camp. SEMPER FI!!

 

[31FordA]

Over 30 years before my time, but my grandparents spoke about it. I always had a hard time imagining just what hearing the news was like, but I think 9/11 gave me a better understanding of what Dec 7th was like.

My Mom was a year old in 1941, and her father worked at the Philly Navy Yard. My grandparents told me that when they heard the news on the radio my grandfather, age 39, announced he was going to enlist in the Navy the next day. That idea was stopped by my grandmother who made it very clear he was not joining the Navy and leaving her with three kids and a mortgage. So he stayed at the Navy Yard and spent the war running the gas plant at the Yard. As a kid I used to always ask why Pop stayed, didn’t he feel gypped missing the War. Pop would say no, my grandmother probably saved his life.

My Dad was almost three, and remembered the commotion when Pearl was bombed. His father, age 44, considered joining the Merchant Marine, but Grandmom told him that if he did she was going back to Ireland and he’d never see her or my Dad again. Not an empty threat, her sister had left her alcoholic husband the year before and went back to Ireland with her two kids, so there was a precedent in the family. So Grandpop spent the war working in a oil refinery.

 

[jimmyj]

We heard the news on a neighbor's battery operated radio (our area did not get electricity until after WWII).
The next day My Father went to join up but found out He was over the age limit and the Army no longer had horses in the Cavalry !
Instead He joined the Merchant Marine.
The Japanese Restaurant in town changed its name to the "China Inn"
Every male and female of age joined the armed forces. The older men went to work in the ship yards and the women went to work in the defense plants.

 

[Rudi]

Was way before my time. Our family had ties to the Arizona, my great uncle served 8 years on her in the 1930s. I always remember the day and pray for our men that were lost.

 

[Shark Bait]

My dad was 11 years old at that time. He had a school mate who had a brother on the Arizona, and he's still there. I remember it every year.

 

[ancient-one]

I vividly remember 12-7-1941. I was working in the service station by myself and I was 16 years old. I had my pride and joy MW portable radio with me. It had a huge battery and was much bigger than portable radios now. Business was slow so I was listening to my radio.
I heard the first broadcast that came on the radio and knew it was bad, but really didn't know the extent.
My Dad brought me some food( it was another open up and close up for $1.00 day) and we talked and he made sure that I knew how really bad that it was. It took several days before the full impact was known.
On 11-30-1942 I enlisted in the Navy and reported for duty on 12-7-1942. I remember!

 

[bigwheelzip]

I dated a Japanese girl from Hawaii back in the 80's. Her mom had been placed in an internment camp with her family as a child.

Hubby's great uncle enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1927 and retired as a LT before the war started. After 12-7 they reactivated him in NYC, and had him on Sand Island Hawaii within a month, as an MP setting up a new Japanese American internment camp.

Hubby's grandfather worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during the war, and these are certificates for extra war bonds that he and hubby's father bought during the week of December 7th 1943 and 1944.

Pearl Harbor Day War Bond Certificates: