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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/06/2002 11:03:54 PM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| 'Unless we fail in our objective -- this thread is designed to stir your emotions and memories and to bring out the patriotism in you.' -- SAMWolf, US Army Veteran
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.
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"This is no drill!"
Military and Naval aircraft at Oahu's airfields were second only to battleships among the Japanese target priorities, though the reason was different. While Pearl Harbor's battleships represented American strategic "reach", and had to be eliminated to safeguard Japan's offensive into Southeast Asia and the East Indies, Oahu's aircraft had to be taken out for a more immediate reason: to protect the Pearl Harbor attack force. U.S. fighter planes, if they could get into the air in any numbers, would be a serious threat to Japanese bombers. U.S. Army bombers and Navy patrol planes potentially imperiled the Striking Force's invaluable aircraft carriers.
 Less than one hour after the attack on Pearl Harbor, USAAF 2nd Lt.’s Ken Taylor and George Welch make an aggressive strike back against the enemy. Taylor, flying his P-40 Tomahawk, is seen bringing down his second enemy aircraft, an Aichi D-31A dive-bomber, on the morning of December 7, 1941. Welch is in close as they chase Japanese planes heading for the open sea. In the background, palls of smoke rise from Hangar 6 housing the naval float-planes, the battleship Nevada, beached off Hospital Point, and the up-turned battleship Oklahoma. The Japanese first attack wave therefore assigned many fighters and bombers to airbase supression, the fighters to set planes afire with machine gun and cannon fire and the bombers to wreck them with high explosives. The second attack wave also had airfield strikes among its tasks. Wheeler Army Airfield, in central Oahu, was Hawaii's main fighter base. It was heavily attacked. Of some 140 planes on the ground there, mainly P-40 and P-36 pursuits, nearly two-thirds were destroyed or put out of action. A similar proportion of the B-17, B-18 and A-20 bombers at Hickam Army Airfield, adjacent to the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, was also wrecked or damaged enough to keep them grounded. Many men were killed at Hickam when the Japanese bombed their barracks. Smaller Bellows Field in eastern Oahu was also hit, destroying several P-40s, including two whose pilots courageously attempted to take off in the teeth of the enemy onslaught.  U.S. Navy and Marine Corps air stations on Pearl Harbor's Ford Island, at Ewa to the west of Pearl and at Kanoehe Bay near Bellows Field, also received concentrated attention from the raiders. Ewa's aircraft complement, mainly carrier-type bombers and fighters, was reduced from nearly fifty operational planes to less than twenty. Ford Island and Kanoehe, home to several squadrons of long-range PBY patrol seaplanes, were massively attacked, with Ford Island losing about half its planes and Kaneohe all but a few. These very successful Japanese strikes thus prevented any significant aerial opposition, though the few Army fighters that got airborne gave a good account of themselves. Later on December Seventh, surviving bombers and patrol planes were sent out to search for the Japanese carriers. They found nothing and confronted considerable "friendly" anti-aircraft gunfire when they returned to their bases. Ford Island Naval Air Station, in the middle of Pearl Harbor, was headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, and an important target for the Japanese first wave raiders. Reportedly, the initial bomb of the whole attack burst there, prompting the message that electrified the World: "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor--this is no drill.". Several PBY patrol seaplanes and other aircraft were destroyed on Ford Island, and one big hangar was gutted. In all, 33 planes were put out of commission there. Several planes from the aircraft carrier Enterprise, which was approaching Hawaii after a mission to Wake Island, arrived in the midst of the attack. A few were shot down by the Japanese and more by understandably jittery American anti-aircraft gunners. However, several of these planes, and others from Ford Island's own complement, were airborne again within a few hours, sent out to search for the enemy. Some, at the end of a very long day, were shot down by their fellow-countrymen as they returned from these unfruitful searches.
Kanoehe Bay, on the east coast of Oahu, was the site of a major Navy patrol seaplane base. A new facility, with some of its buildings still under construction, this Naval Air Station was home to three Patrol Squadrons. It had 33 PBYs on the ground or floating just offshore when the Japanese arrived. Of those planes, all but six were destroyed, and the survivors were damaged. Only the three Kaneohe Bay PBYs then out on patrol were fit for service at the end of the raid.
 A tribute to the Americans who got airborne on the "date which will live in infamy". A thrilling image of a lone P-40B and Japanese Val Despite the effective Japanese counter-air effort, a few Army P-40 and P-36 pursuit ships got airborne, including some from the small, and untargeted, airfield at Haleiwa on Oahu's north coast. These shot down perhaps as many as eleven enemy planes of the second attack wave, losing four of their number in return, two while taking off and one to American anti-aircraft fire while returning to base. In the midst of the raid, twelve unarmed B-17C and B-17E four-engine bombers arrived over Oahu after a long flight from California. Unaware of the events then unfolding at their destination, several of these were attacked. Though unable to fire back, only two B-17s were destroyed, both after landing, an early indication of the toughness of the "Flying Fortress" in combat. Two Navy SBDs flying into Oahu from the carrier Enterprise, were also downed by enemy action during the raid. One of these may have been the victim of a mid-air collision with its opponent near Ewa Field.
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They expressed their account more by what they did not say than what they were willing to say. They simply said it was the most shocking, terrifying, and horrible event one could imagine. Modesty prevented them from saying that after attack, they gave themselves no time to indulge in grief. My uncle as any good sailor would do, received his orders and did his duty. My aunt spent her days helping families who had been devastated by the attack. They both lived into their nineties, and lived a happy and full life. They returned to Hawaii many times for visits. I know their experiences weighed heavy on them both every day of their lives but they did not define themselves by this experience, although every time I was with them I revered them both for their service to this country.
I fear there are many today who view December 7th and June 6th as a movie. My grandfather who served in WWI, refused to watch any movie or television program about war. He said that he had seen more war than he had wanted to see first hand.
The legacy of the sacrifices made by so many cannot be done justice by what Hollywood captures on film. These WWII veterans who survive are precious treasure, give them respect, ask for their stories. I will spend much of this day with my father, a WWII veteran of six years who was a turret gunner on a B-24.
Thank you, Misty. Kind of like 'old times', eh? : )
Looks like the 'Fox' is off to a grand start. That's a good thing. : )
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- The battleship USS Arizona bleeds, nearly 60 years after its death in flame and thunder on Dec. 7, 1941. Drops of oil float upward from the sunken hulk, black marbles that burst into iridescent rainbows undulating on the blue-green waters of Pearl Harbor.
It's poignant evidence that the ship isn't finished -- that it won't let the world forget the men who died when Japanese planes attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor and thrust the United States into World War II.
Among a number of sights on the Hawaiian island of Oahu linked to the attack, the shattered Arizona is the most powerful and the most visited.
Tourism officials at those sites anticipate increased attention as the raid's 60th anniversary and commemorative events approach. And new interest in the battleship is predicted after the release of the "Pearl Harbor" movie.
But history doesn't need Hollywood to lend drama at the USS Arizona Memorial.
Stand in the pink blush of a Hawaiian Sunday morning. Feel the moist, mild air stir languidly around you. Listen to the quiet clatter of the palms. And remember.
Remember a similar morning decades ago when war arrived to shatter the tropical caress.
It was the day before a naval inspection. More than 130 vessels of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were anchored in Pearl: battleships, destroyers, cruisers and others.
Some men were on duty. Some were getting ready for church. Some were finishing breakfast amid the crackle of frying bacon. Some slept.
It was just before 8 a.m. During the next two hours, death would devour nearly 2,400 in the unsuspecting ranks.
Sweeping in from ships positioned north of Oahu, 183 Japanese fighter planes, bombers and torpedo planes attacked on land and water with well-planned fury. Another wave of 167 aircraft arrived a half-hour later.
Oily, acrid, black smoke roiled as torpedoes and bombs smashed into vessels, igniting explosions and fires. Planes at Ford Island, Wheeler and Hickam airfields, parked in tight rows to prevent sabotage, were riddled with bullets. Flames fed on their remains.
The battleship Oklahoma, struck repeatedly by torpedoes, rolled over, trapping more than 400 men.
The Nevada -- the only ship to get under way during the attack -- tried to bolt the harbor but was swarmed by attackers. Ablaze and sinking, Nevada struggled toward shore to avoid blocking the channel.
The bow of the destroyer Shaw was sheared off in a fiery blast. The torpedoed Utah capsized, and the fire-swept California and West Virginia sank.
Bombs rocked the Arizona. Among them, a 1,760-pound armor-piercing shell penetrated the ship near the No. 2 turret, starting a fire that spread in seconds through a hatch the men didn't have time to close. Flames boiled into the rooms where 100 tons of gunpowder were stored.
There was a flash and a tremendous "whoom."
"The whole ship erupted like a volcano," the Arizona's damage-control officer, Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Fuqua, said later.
The explosion tore apart the Arizona's bow end. With little left to hold it upright, a mast sagged forward.
The concussion blew men off nearby vessels into the water. Sailors deafened by the sound of the blast couldn't hear screams for help. Tons of debris rained over the harbor.
And in that violent instant, more than two-thirds of the Arizona's crew died.
Twenty-two sets of brothers . . . father and son Thomas and William Free of Texas . . . all 21 members of the ship's prize-winning band . . . sailors and officers alike -- perished.
The ship sank in less than nine minutes into Pearl's shallow water but continued to burn for more than two days, its superstructure -- some of it still above the surface -- wreathed in black smoke.
By 10 a.m., the attack was over. Because the raid focused mainly on larger warships moored on Battleship Row beside Ford Island in the center of the harbor, many others escaped destruction. Still, 12 U.S. vessels were sunk or beached, and nine were damaged. The dead numbered 2,388; the wounded, 1,178. The Japanese lost 29 planes, 55 airmen and nine submariners.
The Arizona, its back broken, was never raised, and six decades later, the ship and many of its men lie where they fell. Some were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, often called Punchbowl Cemetery. Other victims were returned stateside.
People come: 1.5 million last year, about half of them veterans of the war the Arizona didn't survive. Some come out of curiosity or because it's on their Honolulu tour itinerary, but most come to pay tribute, to learn and to understand. Few leave untouched.
"When you step onto the memorial or visit Punchbowl Cemetery -- where often the only sounds are whispered words and the snapping of our flag -- you're hit with the unmistakable reality of sacrifice. It's impossible to not feel the impact," said Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet.
Pilgrimages to the memorial -- a 184-foot-long, bright-white rectangular structure that straddles the Arizona without touching it -- begin at the visitor center with a 23-minute documentary movie. Events leading to the attack are described with clarity and power through footage gleaned primarily from the National Archives. Scenes and sound, stunning in their unflinching fact, capture the destruction and pandemonium of Dec. 7.
A pensive crowd emerges from the theater and moves to the dock, where a boat waits to shuttle visitors to the memorial five minutes across the harbor.
From early in World War II, the sunken Arizona was viewed as special. It became a tradition that crews on vessels passing the battleship would stand at attention, according to Daniel Martinez, historian at the memorial, which is managed by the National Park Service.
But it wasn't until the late 1950s that a public campaign was mounted to officially memorialize the ship. Ralph Edwards kicked off fund-raising on his TV show "This Is Your Life." When collections fell short, Congress provided more money.
The resulting structure beside Ford Island was dedicated on Memorial Day 1962. It has come to honor not just the lost crew members of the Arizona, but also all American military personnel who died in the attack.
The memorial's sweeping shape -- high at each end but low at the center -- symbolizes "initial defeat and ultimate victory," its architect, Alfred Preis, said.
Not all of the ship lies below the memorial. The sagging foremast, whose sad image was captured in a now-famous photograph of the dying vessel, and other parts of the damaged superstructure were removed in 1942 and 1943, and the metal was returned to the war effort, said Martinez. More metal was cut away later to allow placement of the memorial and is stored by the Navy on nearby Waipio Peninsula.
Large, elongated windows on each side of the memorial's main room admit dazzling sunbeams and allow views of the ship below. Buoys mark the bow and stern of the 608-foot-long vessel. Gun turret No. 3's rusting circular seat protrudes from the water toward the stern. Corners of the galley's ovens are visible below the memorial's bow side. And hundreds of brilliantly colored tropical fish dart over the wreckage.
Because the harbor's murky waters obscure visibility, little was known about the vessel's condition until the early 1980s. A study begun then by the National Park Service mapped the ship's exterior in detail and discovered an intact turret and gun -- an object longer and heavier than a Trailways bus, said Daniel J. Lenihan of the park service's Submerged Cultural Resources Center in Santa Fe, N.M. Everyday items also were found in the debris: broken dishes from the ship's galley, medicine cabinets and personal gear.
In continuing research, metallurgists from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln are measuring effects of the crust formed by sponges, worms and other "biofoul" attached to the hulk. The coating offers some protection to the exterior metal, said Dr. Don Johnson, but it adds weight to sediment and other material pressing on the Arizona.
Already, decks are sagging and slumping, said Larry Murphy, director of the resources center. Monitors will be installed to report movement of even a half-inch, he added.
Concern that the corroding ship might collapse in future decades centers on the teardrops of oil that surface every 20 seconds or so. Historian Martinez said they now amount to just five ounces a day and pose no danger to the environment. But no one is certain how much of the million gallons of oil aboard at the time of the attack remains on the Arizona and whether a large amount could be released as the ship continues to deteriorate.
Diffused light streams through "Tree of Life" art windows in the shrine room at the memorial's far end. It illuminates a wall engraved with the names of all Arizona crewmen who died in the attack.
Not everyone listed is entombed aboard. Accessible remains were collected soon after the raid. And in early 1942, divers removed an additional 60 bodies, but the work was so difficult and distasteful, said Martinez, that the Navy declared the unrecovered victims "buried at sea."
Today, only 54 Arizona survivors remain. They are among the approximately 8,000 left of the 90,000 military men and women who served on Oahu during the attack, said Ray Emory, chief historian for the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
Many Pearl Harbor veterans view the upcoming anniversary as one of their last, said Dan Hand, chief ranger at the memorial. And Emory confirms that their ranks are shrinking by about 50 a month.
A feeling of loss runs strong among those who read the columns of names on the wall and weep unashamedly for men most never knew.
But grief alone is not the message of the Arizona Memorial.
"We must never forget we are the beneficiaries of what this country accomplished during World War II," Adm. Fargo said. "America is strong, peaceful and prosperous because of the sacrifices of a generation of men and women willing to defend freedom."
Miller lost his life in the explosions and subsequent sinking of the Liscome Bay early on the morning of November 24, 1943.
Quoting the Alkaseltzer jingle: "Oh what a relief it is"...lalala LOL
..That's also a good thing:) Good to have you here! :)
A very good thing! Thank you, Misty, I shall return. : )
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