Posted on 12/06/2004 6:14:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HONOLULU (AP) - Sixty-three years after the sneak attack that plunged the United States into World War II, hundreds of men who died aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma are finally getting their own special tribute.
A new exhibit of photos, artifacts and oral histories was being unveiled Monday to honor the 429 men from the Oklahoma who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack. That is the second-highest number of Pearl Harbor casualties behind the USS Arizona, where most of its 1,177 killed crewmen remain entombed.
The anniversary also will be marked with simultaneous ceremonies Tuesday aboard the Arizona Memorial above that sunken battleship, and on shore at the National Park Service's visitors center. Each ceremony was to feature a silence pause at 7:55 a.m. - the minute the attack started.
While the better-known Arizona has a gleaming white memorial straddling its hull, the Oklahoma has gone largely unrecognized over the years.
On Monday, Paul Goodyear, head of the USS Oklahoma Survivors Association, and five other survivors were to join Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma at the exhibit's unveiling at the Pearl museum and visitors center.
Goodyear, who organizes an annual USS Oklahoma reunion, had lobbied for the exhibit at the Oklahoma state capitol earlier this year.
"The youngest of our survivors is already 80," he said then. "If we don't do this now, these men will be completely forgotten. Is that the way we thank them for their supreme sacrifice they made for this country?"
When it sank, the Oklahoma was anchored off Ford Island on Battleship Row in the middle of the harbor, next to the USS Maryland. The Oklahoma took the brunt of the torpedoes, leaving the Maryland relatively intact.
The Oklahoma was refloated in 1943 and sold for scrap after the war, but it sank in the Pacific while being towed to California.
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases on Oahu lasted two hours. Twenty-one ships were heavily damaged, and 320 aircraft were damaged or destroyed. In all, about 2,390 people were killed and about 1,178 were wounded, according to the National Park Service, which maintains the Arizona site.
Tragic day. We never should have been caught so unaware.
just a ping...
http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/mus-sites/OklahomaMuseumHistory_files/smhexhibits.html
(scroll down a bit for a Battleship Oklahoma listing)
I remember seeing the silver service (and ship's bell?) salvaged from the Oklahoma
when I toured the OK Historical Society building...decades ago.
YES!!!
This is great!
Now how long before the occupants of the "twin towers" receive the same respect....60 years? I hope not.
Has the Japanese government ever officially apologized?
In all, about 2,390 people were killed and about 1,178 were wounded, according to the National Park Service, which maintains the Arizona site.Am I interpreting this correctly? A total of 2,390 people were killed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In contrast, close to 3,000 were killed by the Islamofacists on 9/11. Hence, by the number of people killed, 9/11 was worse than Pearl Harbor?
Is 12/7 equal to 9/11. I think not but it could be close. Both options are quite scary.
It's true. The Arizona was like one of the twin towers. Those poor guys never had a chance.
I think 12/7 was worse just because our military took such a hit and the Japanese were attacking other areas as well.
The Utah also sank at Pearl Harbor. "Her partially submerged hulk still remains, rusting, at Pearl Harbor with an unknown number of men trapped inside." "Chief Watertender Tomich received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his selfless act in ensuring the safety of others."
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/battlesh/bb31.htm
But he wouldn't talk about Pearl Harbor, other than to tell me that he was there. Due to his lack of candor, I always had lingering doubts about whether or not he was really there, but then recently he passed on. The obituary in my local paper showed me that he was indeed there, as well as many other prominent places which he didn't tell me about. We're talking hardcore stuff, even for WWII, the historic places and battles he'd been in made my head spin as I read the obituary. Reading the obit, I was amazed at the places he'd been, the destruction and death he'd witnessed, and most of all the fact that he didn't care to relive them for a snot-nosed furnace installer.
Recalling our talks, I realized that he had only talked about the minor things, and he had been unable, or unwilling, to talk about the really bad things he had seen. He held it all in without my realizing he was holding it all in.
That's a Man, folks. A US Man, a US Sailor. He carried his end, as well as a good share of the ends of others, and never asked for recognition, never once, at least in my presence.
We all owe Mr. Abarr a debt of gratitude which he never asked for while he was here, and we all are too late to repay that debt to him, but, we can push for this Oklahoma memorial.
At the very least I would urge everyone to be on the lookout for our current servicemen and servicewomen. You people in our larger population centers, and those who live near military bases: How often do you see these people in a grocery store or restaurant? Please do something nice and buy their meal or groceries; they are protecting our butts and getting too damned little pay for doing so.
Sorry for the long post.....
Thank you for telling about this hero.
His kind seem to be pretty scarce nowadays.
No need to apologize.
This man certainly maintained his modesty, but at a cost: his story will now never be told.
What memories this sailor must have had...
The incident of February 4, 1838, which your handle brings to mind, should be related to every Christian schoolboy, as an antidote to the toxic multi culti brainwashing now being force fed in the government indoc camps [publik skools]. Being a godly man, old Piet trusted the kufrs and paid dearly. Our present leaders would do well to remember Piet's fatal mistake and Ronaldus Magnus' famous dictum, trust but verify.
I was thinking the same thing. Better to go down like a fighting ship, or close to it anyway.
A small collection of cartoons...the first two are real keepers...
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/TerrorPearlHarbor/main.asp
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