[gandalftb]

Good post. My father was on the USS Phoenix, Marine Detachment. He was the forward watch that morning and was the first onboard to see the Japs make their first recon overflight. He drew his sidearm and shot the lock off the .50 caliber ammo box. The first damage done in the attack.

He said that he opened fire with the .50 simultaneously with several other guns in the harbor. The Japs made their turns very low over the Phoenix so it received very little damage but shot down at least two planes.

Dad said a cook came on deck to see what was going on. The cook was carrying potatoes in his apron and the Japs were flying so low that the cook started throwing potatoes at them.

As the Japs turned, very low, right over head, Dad said he looked right into the pilots eyes as he fired on them. He said that many were grinning and looked very confident.

[Erik Latranyi]

He drew his sidearm and shot the lock off the .50 caliber ammo box.

Today, he would not have a sidearm, let alone a loaded one!

Sad how PC has influenced even our military.