Posted on 12/07/2016 12:17:10 PM PST by LouieFisk
For a younger generation, the “where were you when” moment is September 11, 2001, an atrocity that prompted comparisons with Pearl Harbor, whose survivors were preparing to mark the 60th anniversary of the attacks that year. The two cataclysms had much in common—they were unexpected, horrific, and destroyed thousands of lives—but they also quickly took on the character of their very different cultural epochs. Pearl Harbor aroused American resolve that channeled itself into a unified war effort, one that would produce an industrial war-making machine such as the world has never seen—just what was needed to win a war such as the world had never seen. September 11, by contrast, spawned a short-lived autumn of flag-waving that soon reverted to parochialism, political factionalism, and the by-now well-rehearsed cultural message that somehow, we must have deserved it. Ours is an age more inclined to apologize for rendering judgment than to condemn the deeds that prompt the judgment.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
The China Marines were withdrawn from Shanghai in November 1941.
For four years the Marines were surrounded by and had close dealings with the occupying Japanese and were well regarded.
The China Marines were well aware of the rumors of a coming Japanese attacks and passed on the intel to Pearl Harbor.
My Dad was a Marine and the forward sentry on the USS Phoenix on the morning of December 7th, 1941.
Three days earlier he and the Marine Detachment onboard were ordered to fill all the ammunition boxes for the .50 caliber deck guns and padlock them. The Marine NCO’s were also issued sidearms and Thompson SMG’s. They knew what was coming.
My Dad saw the original recon flyover, shot the lock off the ammunition box and began firing the forward .50 cal. Browning. He said that he heard no other firing before he opened up.
The Phoenix was already making steam as they were to tow a target for gunnery practice that morning. The Japanese made their turns over the Phoenix allowing the Phoenix gunners to shoot down three aircraft. There were no Phoenix casualties and they made it out of the harbor safely.
We had plenty of warning.
You have very good reason to be proud of your father. He was what Tom Brokaw cited (in one of the few things he got right) a part of “The Greatest Generation”. Americans need to think more often of how much we owe to such men and women.
I had the extreme honor of servung with a few of the old (and new) China Marines from 1952—1972.
I retired USMC in ‘72 and eventually went online about ‘97 w/a WebTV and bogged/forumed/messgenoarded, etc. as much USMC history as I could find.
Thank you for your posting/response and God Bless!
Dick.Gaines: American!
aka: Gunny G
+++++
Very well written. Thank you for posting.
My dad was also on the USS Phoenix at Pearl Harbor as a young Ensign gunnery officer. His recollection was a little different in that he said it took 30 minutes to build up enough steam to pull away from the dock. Regardless, the USS Phoenix was a great ship and performed well through out the war.
You’re welcome. I like to learn new tidbits of history, it makes me realize even deeper how much so many sacrificed.
Interesting. Same goes for 9/11/01.
Many military men knew war was imminent. A war warning was issued to the pacific in general by the 6th.
The decoding of the purple code let military analysts know a war with Japan was days away by Dec 6th. They just didn't know where and assumed the most likely target was the Philippines or through southeast asia to Java and Borneo.
A admire those like your dad who could see the obvious, I only wish that they had better leadership. When Ward sank the midget sub and Opana Point detected the incoming attack, that better leadership would at least have gotten the soldiers and sailors out of the rack ready for the attack. The japanese said that the anti-aircraft fire was viscious by the second wave and that is where they lost most of the 29 planes shot down.
“..one that would produce an industrial war-making machine such as the world has never seen.”
Within the next several months we celebrated Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo (symbolic but significant still) and victory at the battle of Midway, having cracked their code. Quite a turnaround.
While I was on the Arizona, a boatload of Japanese tourists pulled up. I wanted to shout, "Why are you here. Did you come to see your handiwork?" But of course I didn't. Nor was it fair. All of those tourists had been born after 1941. It was none of their doing. Still, it shows how deep the feelings are of those of us who were alive then.
“All of those tourists had been born after 1941. It was none of their doing.”
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I imagine they were showing their respect, the Japanese have been well-pacified since WWII.
“The japanese said that the anti-aircraft fire was viscious by the second wave and that is where they lost most of the 29 planes shot down.”
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Anybody know if any of the downed pilots were captured alive?
I said that they were making steam, not that they had enough to sail.
Clearly they fought on while they made enough steam, long enough to shoot down three planes.
My compliments to your Dad.
It is no coincidence that the Marine Detachment was warned by the Japanese to get out of Shanghai and did so, two weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack.
Why have no historians mentioned the preparations made by the Marines all over the Pacific, the Phillipines, etc?
http://www.historynet.com/the-niihau-incident.htm
FWIW this incident was one that contributed to Roosevelt interning the Japanese.
Thanks, that’s fascinating stuff!
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