Posted on 11/03/2019 1:37:50 PM PST by fugazi
On the morning of 7 December 1941, nine Japanese torpedoes struck the battleship USS Oklahoma, anchored on Battleship Row during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The massive ship capsized in just 15 minutes, trapping hundreds of sailors and Marines inside.
Crews worked feverishly to rescue the survivors, which could be heard tapping the inside of the ship's hull for the next three days. Unsung heroes like civilian dock worker Julio DeCastro raced against the clock, cutting through sections of the hull to pull out dozens of men.
Two Oklahoma sailors earned the Medal of Honor: Seaman James Ward and Ensign Francis Flaherty both sacrificed their lives so their comrades could escape their battle stations. Chief John Austin posthumously earned the Navy Cross for assisting 15 of his fellow sailors out of a flooded compartment. Boatswain Adolph Bothne braved enemy fire and the hazardous waters, picking up boatload after boatload of survivors and ferrying them to Ford Island. Lt. (j.g.) Aloysius H. Schmitt assisted in evacuating a dozen trapped sailors through an opening, but when it was his turn to escape, he declined so that several other sailors that showed up as he about to be rescued appeared. Schmitt gave up his chance of survival so that others may live, becoming the first American chaplain to die in World War II.
Two members of the ship's Marine detachment showed exceptional courage, earning the Navy Cross: Sgt. Thomas Hailey -- wearing only his underclothes -- swam to USS Maryland where he assisted in rescue efforts before manning a 5-inch gun. He then (still in his skivvies) volunteered to serve as a gunner aboard a flying boat as the Americans attempted to locate the Japanese fleet. Pfc. Willard Darling spotted the ship's junior dental officer, Cmdr. Fred
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
Not every man who was on the shot down bombers was killed and not all the bombers made it back with all crewmen alive.
I definitely get your point. We could be a modern version of the British Empire, perhaps the subdued world would be more peaceful, but it might be much, much worse. For thousands of years might made right and borders ebbed and flowed based on how much power a state could project.
On the other hand, there is something to be terribly proud of considering we could quite easily control much of the globe, but after conquering, we just bury our fallen and rebuild. Yes, we had a pseudo-empire phase and the Indian Wars weren’t our best moment, but a nation that uses our military and naval forces for the benefit of others is pretty new to humans.
Quite right... I expanded on this exact point in an article a few months ago.
I’m not suggesting an “Empire”, but Germany (western), Japan, and Italy could have been territories like Guam and Puerto Rico. Think of the increased projected power and the economic benefits to the US. Yes, I know the US is a protectorate of those nations, but if we owned them, think of the benefits. Recently, we do the same thing with Iraq and Aftganiscrap. Shed out youth’s blood and give their shit-holes back to them. I’m so over nation building.
If there was a human simulator strategy game, wouldn’t it be absolutely fascinating to see how the American Empire would play out?
....Could not agree with you more.....! also love your tag line... as for me... U. S.Navy “boot camp” summer 1961...out in the fleet after that... I would say without any hesitation that virtually all if the guys I served with (yes...no female sailors at that time...) would have given their lives for their shipmates as we would have given ours for them...can’t say I can say that today... I guess the mark of our “progress” today is how many transgender sailors we have in our fleet... gee; how many transgenders do the Chinese navy have....?
None of those sounds like a good way to go (not that there are any, but there are degrees of unpleasantness). I had heard some of the SS or Gestapo made a “sport” out of hunting downed airmen who survived the shoot-down.
Most dangerous combat assignment in WW2? Ball turret gunner on a B-17.
My father was the highest ranking officer on the hospital ship, the Solace, that day. He was on deck throughout the entire attack. When it was over, he steered the ship round the harbor collecting the living and the dead.
They very soon ran out of room in the tiny morgue. According to my father. “We stacked the bodies in the always like cord wood.”
He never put in for any type of medal or aware because he “Was just doing his job.”
Look, we won France from the Germans fair and square, twice. Then we gave it back to the French. Next time Germany gets to KEEP them!
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