December 7, 1941 Remember what happened.

[pishta]

Today would be the day of my wife's great uncle's Japanese captivity... He was a South China Marine working at a 45 man detachment at US embassy in Tientsin China as a radio operator and Dec 8, the nips (not my words, but everyones back in '42) stormed in and arrested every American and threw them in prison camps. They were already in control over there but the US embassy was still sovereign and not occupied. He was a POW for the rest of the war and didn't get liberated from Niigata POW camp until one morning the guards were gone. None of the POW's dared to leave for 2 weeks as they thought it was a trick . Finally a local told them the war was over (Aug 15, surrender signed Sept 2) and Sept 5, Army units came and formally repatriated them. He didn't go home for 2 months because he was embarrassed about his emaciated condition! He finally got home after putting on 40 lbs. His foot locker is in the Smithsonian "South China Marines" exhibit. Fact: Dec 8 in Philippines and China WAS Dec 7th in Honolulu due to international dateline.
<Edited so I could straighten out the date line issue>

 

[Alaskan_TA]

A screen capture of my post on the Alaskan Aviation History page minutes ago;

 

[greymouser7]

An unrelated story: My Dad and Uncle were going with their future wives at time of WWII. Uncle Bill RIP was a marine, Dad was Army. They were both from up here in the N end of Idaho. "Eventually" THEY BOTH ENDED UP on Okinawa!!! Somehow my Uncle learned Dad was on the Island, and one "day off" he walked to Dad's unit to say hi. My uncle talked little of that. He did not land there in the initial landing, but did get there "soon enough" to see some serious fighting. Dad ended up in a supply co. later on

My uncle, young. This photo looks EXACTLY like two of his sons at about the same age

From obituary:

"He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in December of 1943 where he served in the pacific theatre; at Guadalcanal, Guam, Okinawa, Japan and China. He returned home in April of 1946 and in June of that year married his high school sweetheart"

View attachment 1715258624

Band of brothers Pacific Theater

 

[jos51700]

77 yrs. ago today and Dec 7th still brings tears to my eyes and always will.
This is first year none of the handfull of survivng vets will be able to
attend ceremony in pearl due to ill health.
Soon they will all be gone but never forgotten. Ever.

View attachment 1715258617

The news this morning said a few were still able to make it and stand for the national anthem.

That's what tough is.

 

[dart4forte]

I taught it today.
In fact, going forward for rest of the month we will be ankle deep in WWII. That's not even close to enough time. I still have Korea, Vietnam and and the rest of the 20th century to cover. But I dedicate the first part of Dec to the events leading up to today. The rest of the month we will cover the war, we will contrast and compare it to WWI and talk about the fallout of the war leading up to the Cold War. My students will write a 2-3 page (min) paper that will be due the day before X-mas break.
I've never gotten any push back from anyone about this.

Good for you, keep the standards high

 

[RustyRatRod]

To each their own. Yet we have a holiday for columbus day that i know i cant remember. lol.
Remember is just a term. If thats what it takes to make sure significant history is never forgotten im all for it.

That's right. Most use "remember" simply as a way to say "don't forget" about what happened, weather you were here, or not. I was thinking more in the literal sense, as usual. LOL

 

[Bigdummy]

Young people over the last 20 years have been dumbed down as far history. If it doesn’t follow a certain narrative it’s not taught much less mentioned. Hell, a lot of kids today don’t know about Dsert Storm. It’s up to my generation and those followingtokeepthe flame of memory alive.

I predict that in 20years 9/11 will become distant memory

They dont even know about the 1st world trade center bombing.Nor the uss Cole,seveal us embassy's,bases including when I lived on Rein Main AFB and all the bombings and 3 times a week bomb scares when i was a kid...hi jacks!

 

[SGBARRACUDA]

50 years ago, Ga and Tx. taught its history in jr. high. I have to wonder if still the case, with every damn liberal wanting history to be totally forgotten!!

Not forgotten, just rewritten to their liking! I laugh, cause you can change the present,you can mold the future. But you Damn sure can't change history.

 

[cudajames]

My grandfather was there. "why weren't the aircraft carriers there" which is part of the Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory. When in reality the carriers where out supplying various bases in the Midway/Wake - everyone knew war was coming with the US attempting to prepare for it. The Enterprise actually returned to Pearl Harbor during the attach. The Japanese attack was preemptive and in my opinion not cowardly but sound militarily. The US was already supplying Japanese enemies and in some cases already fighting them.

Here is my Grandfather - he was killed during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons - which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Kind of interesting - here is footage of the enterprise taking the 2nd and 3rd bombs - which is probably his death

 

[ramenth]

My grandfather was there. "why weren't the aircraft carriers there" which is part of the Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory. When in reality the carriers where out supplying various bases in the Midway/Wake - everyone knew war was coming with the US attempting to prepare for it. The Enterprise actually returned to Pearl Harbor during the attach. The Japanese attack was preemptive and in my opinion not cowardly but sound militarily. The US was already supplying Japanese enemies and in some cases already fighting them.

Here is my Grandfather - he was killed during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons - which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Kind of interesting - here is footage of the enterprise taking the 2nd and 3rd bombs - which is probably his death

View attachment 1715259181

Give this man a cigar.

Thank you for the well written post.

Most forget "we" were already in China. With plausible deniability, of course.

The War in the Pacific is a topic of study for me. The Eastern Solomon's and Guadalcanal being of particular interest.

 

[SGBARRACUDA]

My grandfather was there. "why weren't the aircraft carriers there" which is part of the Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory. When in reality the carriers where out supplying various bases in the Midway/Wake - everyone knew war was coming with the US attempting to prepare for it. The Enterprise actually returned to Pearl Harbor during the attach. The Japanese attack was preemptive and in my opinion not cowardly but sound militarily. The US was already supplying Japanese enemies and in some cases already fighting them.

Here is my Grandfather - he was killed during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons - which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Kind of interesting - here is footage of the enterprise taking the 2nd and 3rd bombs - which is probably his death

View attachment 1715259181

Thanks for sharing. A vivid reminder of the cost of our freedom!

 

[Ddaddy]

When I lived in Hawaii in 1991, the lady we rented our house from was a hotel operator when the Japanese attacked.

She used to tell us vivid stories about the servicemen grabbing their gear and running out the door headed to up the beach to Pearl, only for her to watch them being strafed and killed by the Japanese planes on the beach.

Her stories about what she experienced before and after that attack will be with me always.

It was a different World back then and history was upon them.

I will never forget.

 

[barbee6043]

My dad never wanted to talk of the wars he experienced. He mentioned it maybe twice, and I didn't ask as I knew it hurt for him to think much about it. I do have couple old photos taken of his squadron on some of the S Pacific islands. They flew bombers for reconosance with all the guns removed, fighter escort no doubt. He was part of the crews. He never got on another plane after leaving the service. Said he just could not do it.
His only comment was how the new recruits got to the islands for the first time, would drink too much coconut juice and get the runs!!
He had some photos of Japan right after the occupation, and some of Korea of the locals there.
Too bad he could not discuss his experiences of the wars.