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Where we were when Pearl Harbor was attacked
World Defense Review ^ | December 2, 2005 | W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Posted on 12/02/2005 5:57:53 AM PST by Moonraker

On December 7, future U.S. President George H.W. Bush was a 17-year-old student and captain of the baseball team at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. "I remember it well," he says. "We had just left church and started to walk across campus when someone shouted out, 'Pearl Harbor's been bombed.'"

On his 18th birthday, the following June, Bush signed up to become a Naval aviator. He completed flight school and earned his commission a few days before his 19th birthday making him the youngest aviator in the Navy at that time.

(Excerpt) Read more at worlddefensereview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: 1941; army; attack; buckley; bush; destroyer; division; dole; harbor; ii; navy; pearl; pearlharbor; seal; seals; tuskegee; war; world; wwii
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To: Moonraker
Where we were when Pearl Harbor was attacked

Where was I? Well, since my dad was only 1 1/2 years old, I was nowhere near Pearl so it wasn't my fault. But I'm sure the MSM could find some way to blame George HW for all of it.

In all seriousness though ... may God bless the souls of all of the men that died there on that fateful day.

21 posted on 12/02/2005 6:35:04 AM PST by al_c
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Considering the time difference between Hawaii and MA,does this statement strike anyone else as...odd?

It possibly would if satellite transmissions and CNN had existed back then.

22 posted on 12/02/2005 6:36:09 AM PST by Gay State Conservative
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To: COBOL2Java
It was my Mom's 21st birthday. Some way to remember it!

My mom was born the next day (Dec. 8, 1941).

23 posted on 12/02/2005 6:37:55 AM PST by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
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To: theDentist

"I thought her name was Pearl Bailey?"

You can't do that joke in this time of metastasizing PC, but I remember Flip Wilson doing it on TV.


24 posted on 12/02/2005 6:42:47 AM PST by dsc
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To: al_c

My Mom and Dad, not yet married, were at a Redskins game. My Dad died in 1977, but I remember him telling me that he thought something was going on when lots of young junior officers started coming into Griffith Stadium to tell thier boss what had happened. Of course, these officers and thier bosses immediately left the game. I don't remember if he said there was any PA announcement, or if he learned it for certain once they left the stadium. I'm sure all the papers ran extra's. He was a season ticket holder back then, and I still have them. After the last two weeks I am beginning to think I am out of my mind.


25 posted on 12/02/2005 6:43:00 AM PST by swordfish
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To: Gay State Conservative
In fact,JFK was,IMO,the last prominent (influential) democRAT to be worthy of the respect of today's Republicans/ conservatives.

By today's Democratic party standards, JFK would be a conservative, of course, but shagging every skirt in the White House is not exactly a conservative ideal either. The story was that Joe DiMaggio wouldn't shake a Kennedy hand if offered to him. Billly Clinton, of course, wasn't so scrupulous.
26 posted on 12/02/2005 6:43:21 AM PST by farmer18th ("The fool says in his heart there is no God.")
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To: Moonraker

I wasn't born yet. I did have a great uncle who fought in WW2 and became a POW. He was held for a couple of months and my great grandmother received a telegram telling her he was MIA. Somehow he escaped and made it to American troops. Sent home. That is all I know. He would never talk about it. But his mom saved the telegram and she had his dogtags and picture.


27 posted on 12/02/2005 6:44:21 AM PST by EmilyGeiger
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To: theDentist

I was in my crib, being only 27 days old; maybe my oldest sister was holding me, as she was a great help to my Mom.


28 posted on 12/02/2005 6:46:41 AM PST by Gumdrop
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To: theDentist
JFK was known for his pursuit of women of any age.

Yes,that's the commonly held belief.Assuming that it's true it represents a serious character flaw.

But you have to admit that this country would be *much* better off if the leaders of today's democRAT Party had marital infidelity as their most serious character flaw.

Can you see any current day democRAT suggesting that Americans should "ask not what your country can do for you"? Or to declare that America should "suppport any friend and oppose any foe"?

I could go on,but I think you get the picture.

29 posted on 12/02/2005 6:47:00 AM PST by Gay State Conservative
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To: Gay State Conservative
I could go on,but I think you get the picture.

I have read many of the writings and speeches of JFK.

By today's standards the man was no Liberal. If he ran for office today, I'd likely vote for him.

30 posted on 12/02/2005 6:58:58 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (This is my tagline. There are many like it but this one is mine.)
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To: Moonraker

I was eleven years old and living in Oasis, CA where my dad was a shift foreman at the Lady Easter talc mine.


31 posted on 12/02/2005 7:02:23 AM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: Moonraker

My dad was an ensign on the USS Phoenix sitting in Pearl Harbor. He said it took them 30 minutes to build up enough steam before they could get underway. They did not get hit. Dad said the Phoenix was the luckiest ship in the navy.


32 posted on 12/02/2005 7:02:58 AM PST by Pamlico
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To: Waverunner

Yes, those who died young and unmarried seem to sort of evaporate. But they gave all. My father was in the Navy and at Iwo Jima and Leyte Gulf, he survived. His first cousin was killed at Anzio beach in '44, we never knew him, nor anything about him.

Getting a package ready now for relative in Iraq.


33 posted on 12/02/2005 7:03:46 AM PST by squarebarb
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To: Moonraker; nuconvert

good read


34 posted on 12/02/2005 7:05:02 AM PST by F14 Pilot (Democracy is a process not a product)
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To: farmer18th
..but shagging every skirt in the White House is not exactly a conservative ideal either.

I agree.In a book I read a few years back (can't recall the title or author) it was claimed that the Kennedy sons learned that stuff from their old man (who was a scumbag of the first order) and that,in fact,their old man used to try to scoop the sons' girlfriends for bed partners.

No,JFK was far from perfect but was,philospoically at least,a choir boy compared to today's democRAT leaders.

35 posted on 12/02/2005 7:07:28 AM PST by Gay State Conservative
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To: Moonraker

Dh's grandfather died there that day.


36 posted on 12/02/2005 7:08:52 AM PST by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (Undocumented border patrol agent.)
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To: Moonraker
I wasn't born til after the war.

But my dad was a sophomore at The Citadel. He was sitting in the language lab, listening to a Spanish-language shortwave broadcast. When the announcer came on the radio and said that Pearl had been bombed, he wasn't sure he had heard it correctly - so he called the instructor over, and he listened, and told him that indeed he HAD heard it correctly.

Dad's mom had a friend on the draft board back home in Rome GA, who told her that his number would be coming up. So he didn't bother to go back to school for spring semester, figuring he would pay all that tuition and just get drafted and lose all his credits and his (or his mom's) money too. So he hung around home, got bored, and went down and enlisted! North Africa, Italy, Trieste, and the Greek elections . . . got shot at but everybody mostly missed, he was wounded very slightly but too embarassed to take a Purple Heart.

37 posted on 12/02/2005 7:11:51 AM PST by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: Moonraker
For the researcher...
 

The Fall of the Philippines

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-PI/
Pearl Harbor Investigation
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/congress/part_0.html
 
For those that are interested in how Pearl Harbor was investigated beginning in late 1945 and lasting till May 1946. 
 
A chronological chart of the investigations from the "Dorn Report".
Use a hyperlinked map of the Investigations to navigate or scroll down.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/file_map.html

The "NINE INVESTIGATIONS" in chronological order:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/invest.html
 
The Knox Investigation http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/knox/knox_0.html
Dec. 9-14, 1941. 

The Roberts Commission http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/roberts/roberts.html
Dec. 18-January-23, 1941
 
The Hart Investigation http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/hart/hart-00.html
Feb. 12-June 15, 1944
 
The Army Pearl Harbor Board http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/army/chap_0.html
Jul. 20-Oct. 20, 1944
 
The Navy Court of Inquiry http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/navy/navy_0.html
Jul. 24-Oct. 19, 1944. 
 
The Clarke Investigation http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/clarke/clarke_0.html
Aug. 4-Sep 20, 1944 
 
The Clausen Investigation
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/clausen/clausen.html
Jan. 24-Sep. 12, 1945 
 
The Hewitt Inquiry http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/hewitt/hewitt-0.html
May 14-July 11, 1945
 
The Joint Congressional Committee
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/congress/part_0.html
Nov. 15, 1945-May 23, 1946 

==========================
Suggested research path:

The Joint Congressional Committee
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/congress/part_0.html
Table of Contents gives a good over-view of the Report and the Report itself refers back to the previous reports.

The Pearl Harbor Investigation Listing
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/invest.html
including the Joint Congressional Committee report and the other eight official investigations into the attack.

The Listing of Additional Files
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/extra.html
Holds several items that are of interest but weren't included in all of the proceedings.

Naval Historical Center Images of Pearl Harbor
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm

Photographic collections related to Pearl Harbor
http://ibiblio.org/pha/images/index.html

A Chronological Collection of Documents Relating to the U.S. Entry Into WWII
http://ibiblio.org/pha/timeline/  (Four parts)
    Magic intercepts listed in the Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings.
    Communications between Washington and the US embassy in Tokyo, other
    relevant US documents.
    International chronology, listing various documents from around the world
    Military document chronology, listing important military plans, studies and   communications.

Japanese Operational Monograph  No. 97  PEARL HARBOR OPERATIONS:
General Outline of Orders and Plans http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/myths/jm-097.html
was rewritten in English by the Japanese Research Division, Military History Section, Headquarters, Army Forces Far East and is based on the translation of the Japanese original.

Pearl Harbor Revisionism
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3682/phrevisionism.html
First Order revisionism holds President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally responsible for the debacle at Pearl Harbor and regards him as having used the incident as a means to get the United States involved in the War and subsequently used the Hawaiian commanders as scapegoats to shift public attention away from the activities of the Administration.

38 posted on 12/02/2005 7:13:16 AM PST by Wolverine (A Concerned Citizen)
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To: Gay State Conservative
I don't know if it's a Character flaw. At that time and at his age, chasing women was his real occupation, as it was with many of us at that age. That's the only point I was making.

Yes, if the Dems would go back to that sort of Political course, instead of where they are now, trying to sink the ship to save their own politcal hides.

39 posted on 12/02/2005 7:14:13 AM PST by theDentist (The Dems have put all their eggs in one basket-case: Howard "Belltower" Dean.)
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To: Moonraker

I had been conceived at that time, to be born on the birthday (June 12) of H.W. Bush. My Dad and his four brothers all served with four of them in hostle hell fire. I owe them so much. I hope the spelling is right, I am having trouble seeing, somebody left the water running.


40 posted on 12/02/2005 7:18:07 AM PST by Lewite (Praise YAHWEH and Proclaim His Wonderful Name, His Son Yahshua Messiah is coming soon!)
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