Dog Community

PEARL HARBOR DAY

Posted : 12/7/2006 5:03:20 PM

SIXTY FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY WE WERE PLUNGED INTO WWII WITH THE BOMBING OF OUR NAVY BASE AND AIR FIELDS IN HAWAII. MY YOUNG DAD ENLISTED IN THE NAVY AND WAS STATIONED IN AUSTRALIA WHERE HE EVENTUALLY MET AND MARRIED MY MOM. I WAS BORN THERE JUNE 4, 1945.

I AM SURE THERE ARE SOME HERE WHOSE DADS OR GRANDPAS WERE PULLED INTO THAT WAR. WE WERE SO UNREADY THAT MANY OF OUR MEN WERE TRAINED WITH CARDBOARD OR PLY WOOOD COVERED WAGONS, ETC AS TANKS. MANY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE REAL GUNS TO TRAIN WITH AT FIRST. BUT THESE BRAVE YOUNG MEN WERE READY AND WILLING TO STAND UP FOR THEIR FLAG, THEIR COUNTRY, FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOMS WASHINGTON 7 HIS BEDRAGGLED ARMIES WON FOR US BACK IN THE 1700'S. MANY YOUNG MEN DIED SO WE COULD RETAIN THE FREEDOMS THAT WE STILL ENJOY TODAY.

LET US NOT FORGET THESE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN AND WHAT THEY DID FOR US.

And on a side note, 4 years ago today we adopted our golden mix, Honey. She was "right at a year old" so we officially made Dec. 7 her birthday as well as adoption day. Today she celebrates 4 years with us and her 5th birthday. So this day is not only important to world history, but to our family because of an always butt wiggling, loving girl that came into our lives.

ron2

Posted : 12/7/2006 6:08:53 PM

Thank you for posting that, Sandra.

And a salute to those who died that day, and a salute to my father-in-law, Charley, 410th Light Bomber Group, 9th USAF, France, WWII.

BEVOLASVEGAS

Posted : 12/7/2006 10:12:53 PM

Thanks for that post.

My grandpa was in the marines, he handled Blitz, a black & tan dobie, which is probably why I'm attracted to dobies. I think of my grandpa often as he passed 12 years ago. I got into my car this morning and looked at my cell, saw the date and thought of grandpa.

lorib

Posted : 12/8/2006 1:53:38 AM

Funny you should mention this. I was up before daylight and had my flag out at 6:30. I brought my personal books to work to make a Pearl Harbor Day display (we also pulled some from the shelves to complete the display). I wore a shirt with a flag on it too.

I feel very, VERY strongly about WWII. In September, DS#2 and I went to the Evergreen Avaitaion Museum (only fifteen miles from here and home to Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose). While we were there, we noticed agroup on elderly veterans. I stopped to ask where they were from and was told they were the 95th Bombing group from the ETO. I pulled DS#2 aside and informed him that these little old men using walkers, oxygen, etc. were the reason we enjoy the freedoms we have today. I explained that they saved the world from Hitler. I felt so VERY strongly about this that I went home and sent off a letter to our local newspaper. They published it the following week. I still get tears in my eyes remembering these men and women and all they did for us.

The Greatest Generation is leaving us at an ever-increasing rate on a daily basis. PLEASE remember to thank these folks for the freedoms you enjoy before it's too late.

spiritdogs

Posted : 12/8/2006 7:13:28 AM

My uncle was at Guadalcanal. My mom enlisted in the Womens Army Corps and then came home and told my dad! Dad was too young for the first war, and too old for the second, so he got a job in the Watertown arsenal making munitions.

My neighbor was an unassuming antique buff and botany professor who ended up at Utah Beach on D-Day and won a Bronze Star for valor - he was a medic.

Xerxes

Posted : 12/8/2006 10:41:39 AM

If you ever get a chance to visit Hawaii, make sure you tour the site of the USS Arizona. It's a very somber experience. You can almost hear the men trapped inside of the various ships tapping the bulkheads with wrenches. The taps coming slower and slower until they stopped and all that is left is the eerie silence and the smell of burnt metal.