Well, seemed appropriate.
To: Thornwell Simons
Thanks for sharing this-is your grandfather still living?
2 posted on
12/07/2001 6:59:39 AM PST by
mafree
To: Thornwell Simons
BTTT
5 posted on
12/07/2001 7:04:06 AM PST by
Fiddlstix
To: Thornwell Simons
Thank you, I much enjoyed reading this account.
6 posted on
12/07/2001 7:16:33 AM PST by
Recluse
To: Thornwell Simons
This sailor gratefully salutes your grandfather and his men.
To: Thornwell Simons
Thanks for the posting. My grandfather served in the Army in the Pacific. He told me about his action in the Phillipines, smaller islands in the Pacific. I myself served 8 years in the Army and I was one of the few in our family he actually confided in about many of his experiences. He later crossed over into the Air Force and ended spending a majority of his time stationed in Japan. The funny thing is that he really loved the Japanese people but hated the Japanese government and military for what they had did. A real shocker was finding out my grandfather was homeless for about 2 years because both parents had died and he didn't want to live in state home and eventually he joined the Army. What's sad is that most of that generation is gone or will be gone soon.
To: Thornwell Simons
Thank you for the report. My uncle was a 17 year old recruit, just out of boot camp, serving on
The Detroit (I think) during the attack. He survived the War and never returned to Hawaii (never wanted to) until we stopped there on a trip to China in 1983 when he was in his 60s. We all took the tour boat out to the Arizona Monument, and it was not until that moment that anyone in the family knew that
The Detroit was the first ship to get underway and out of Pearl Harbor, firing on the planes with the guns on the deck -- even with rifles, I think.
As the tour guide spoke, we looked over at my uncle and saw him weeping. He was an incredibly strong man, and he had never before spoken of the days when a 17 year old raw recruit and been transformed into a proud U.S. Navy seaman.
My uncle also served on The Wedderburn -- but I think it was The Detroit, a destroyer, that made history Dec. 7, 1941.
To: Thornwell Simons
Thanks and a bump!
The fog and confusion which are the heart of military actions comes through vividly in action reports.
For anyone who would enjoy reading another action report, here is one on the last small fighting ship lost to enemy action in World War II (my young father was on the PCE 872).
USS Underhill
10 posted on
12/07/2001 8:41:57 AM PST by
mrsmith
To: Thornwell Simons
Great post...thanks for sharing your family's role in this infamous event...God keep the soul of your grandfather, and give him peace...
11 posted on
12/07/2001 8:45:50 AM PST by
g'nad
To: Thornwell Simons
Thanks for the post! God Bless your grandfather!
To: Thornwell Simons; All
To: Thornwell Simons
The greatest generation may be passing away, but their children will remember their accounts. We will still be around for a long time to remember what happened. But someday someone will come along and say it was America that started the war and should pay reparations to the Japanese for our imperialist brutality.
14 posted on
12/07/2001 3:39:12 PM PST by
virgil
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson