Posted on 12/07/2014 10:20:41 AM PST by PROCON
My uncle was at Pearl Harbor on the battleship, California, which sunk and rolled over killing over 200 of the sailors on board. He survived Pearl Harbor and later made 7 war patrols as XO of the submarine, Pompano, which was lost with all hands in September of 1944. He was a good man. One of the best. His death was a major blow to my moms family.
My career Navy father was home on shore leave that day.
He put on his uniform and hitchhiked from the family farm to a recruiting office with a telephone.Reassigned to the Yorktown.30 years active duty USN.
MY father inlaw was a premed senior. Shortly after the start of the war they took him to Northwestern’s medical school.
He started the next day!
He became a physician that NEVER graduated from college!
Made it in time to serve USN Pacific WWII, and again in Korea.
Thanks for the link! Just went through the photos there with my kids. They were actually interested. ;o)
The dad of a friend of mine had been in the Navy several years and was on shore at Pearl when they attacked. He was running down the dock for his ship, following an officer. I don’t know which ship. The officer went down and his head was gone. He didn’t know if it was a plane or bomb or shell that hit the man. The officer had a 45 which he took because he figured the Japs were invading on land, too. He kept it after the war. We shot it in an indoor combat league a few times in the 80s. It was dependable but not really accurate. Union Signal and Switch made it.
"Lou" was my Dad's PBY co-pilot for a year in SW Pacific, been in contact for years, and has just outlived my Dad since June 3rd of this year. We corresponded some. 'Wish we lived closer, though my family has stopped by.
That’s waisis.
It was.
When in college, a former teacher of mine became acquainted with a student from Hawaii. At the time, “frosting” was just coming into some vogue. In response to his compliment about how her hair style complemented her native Hawaiian complexion, she said it was a “natural” frosting. Present during the December 7th attack, she was so frightened that her natural hair took on an abundance of permanent grey streaks.
California sank, gradually (3 days) but did not roll over. The two battleships that rolled over were Oklahoma and the converted battleship to target ship USS Utah. Also the minelayer Oglala rolled on it’s side at 1010 pier.
I am sure the copyrights have expired by now!
Feh.
West Virginia nearly joined them but was saved by fast counterflooding that put her on the bottom immediately.
We have a neighbor, very old but who still walks the 'hood every day, who has a USMC decal on his truck -- being "former", I asked him about his time in the Corps, and he told me he'd actually been Navy, but a Corpsman who did many of the islands.
He relayed that when he enlisted they learned that he'd taken a biology course (or some such) in high skoo....so they immediately turned him into a medico.
In the early 1970's I worked in the office of a warehouse that was visited almost daily by an old guy who drove a bobtail ("little fella") for a local company -- I learned from others that he'd been captured..as an older civilian..on Wake Island, survived, and endured the war as a POW.
If you wanted to pull his chain, all you had to do was mention ANYTHING to do with Japan.....and when drivers from a couple of local Japanese seafood companies would show up, he'd literally charge up to them and tear them/their ancestors a new a-hole.
We have a local Pearl Harbor survivor that swears he was on West Virgina and saw Utah roll over ahead of his ship.
His credentials are unimpeachable but his memory has faded. He had to mean Oklahoma but who can fault him?
My Dad’s parents were in the Panama Canal Zone on Dec. 7.
Granddaddy was coast artillery. With communications all screwed up Granddaddy took charge. He and several soldiers went up in the control tower at the air strip and spent the day with binoculars and rifles, waiting for invading Japs. Grandmother organized all the wives and they sewed blackout curtains for every window at the post.
Growing up it gave me my love of History.
On May 5, 1942, Union Switch & Signal of Swissvale, PA entered into a contract to manufacture 200,000 pistols for the U.S. Government. Makes for a good story, but it has holes in it.
My DIL’s parent were in their early teens on that awful day-——and they lived on Oahu,one in Honolulu,one in Kaneohe.
.
I can’t explain it because it literally isn’t my story. He was in the Navy at Pearl, his son had the 45. The rest is their story. I hope his story about swimming by the ship until sharks showed up and got shot by Marines with Springfields was true.
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