And the Army got the beans...
I'm a son of son of a sailor and joined the Navy because of that statement.
Well partially.
Had a lot of Uncles in that era and almost all of them wouldn't recommend
any other branch of the service.

You can't thank them vets enough tho, I do go way out of my way to thank
them if I have the chance.
Every one of my uncles are gone now, the old man too.
God, 70 years ago. And the wreck of the Arizona's probably still leaking oil.

 

COMBATDIVONE and COMBATDIVTWO had returned from maneuvers on Friday December 5th, so all the participating ships had their fuel bunkers 'topped off.'

COMBATDIVONE (Commander Battle Division One): Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, flag in USS ARIZONA (BB-39). Kidd was killed when the ARIZONA blew up, the first officer of flag rank to die in WWII

COMBATDIVTWO (Commander Battle Division Two): Rear Admiral William S. Pye, flag in USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44).

At a party at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Pye said there was absolutely no possibility that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor.

He made this statement Saturday, December 6th, 1941.

 

If this question was directed at me, the answer is, I talked to him only briefly, but we will be speaking again.
My daughter was in the Christmas Parade and we were walking to the staging area, when out of the corner of my eye I saw the Sgt/Maj.
After getting my daughter to her staging area and photographing the group I went back to find the Sgt/Maj
I looked all over for him but could not find him. Finally I noticed him sitting in this bus by himself. I made my way onto the bus, as I approached him, he smiled. I asked him if I could take his picture and he Snappped to attention. WOW!!
I listened to him and as he started talking about his carreer. This was brief as the bus started getting passengers on it for the Parade. He gave me his address and an invitation to come over and talk.
I hope to see him soon.
When my wife and I first started dating, I would see elder gentleman with hats depicting wwII or Korean war Vet or any other veteran themed hat, I always went up to them to shake their hand and thank them. I continue to do this everyday. My wife now understands.
I'm also a Vet but my stories fail in comparrison to these brave men and women of the past.
My Dad was a Korean war Vet, and well decorated. My uncles were Vietnam Vets.
When I encounter Vietnam Vets I always welcome them home. These are the Men and Women who needed to hear welcome home more than anyone else in War history.
To all my Viet Nam Vets, "WELCOME HOME"
I did one tour in Viet Nam as part of the "Recovery Mission" to bring back POW's I was to young for the major part of that war. Trying to enlist when I was Fourteen, then finally getting in when I turned Seventeen. My only desire was to go to Nam and help bring back our Soldiers.
Many of you Viet Nam Vets remember the treatment of Vets coming home.
This left me sad as to how my fellow citizens could treat another American Soldier regardless of their mission.
Sorry for getting off track.
To all Vets "Thank You and Welcome Home"

 

Amen to that I was too young also for Viet Nam, but my brother, cousins, and my sisters husband all went over... Yes welcome back to all of the forgotten Heros, that were treated like crap by the liberal war protestors! Well said sir! And thank you for going over to bring the boys home!

 

First and foremost, thank you all for being good people and showing respect to those who earned it the hard way.
I'm sitting here and reading all of your stories and want to add my dads, he's 87 still works two jobs because he wants to. He served in the Pacific in the Army Air Corps. In New Guinea he flew with the nightfighters, our first radar guided aircraft. He was in the invasion of the Phillipines and his LST was sunk by a Kamakazi. He and the survivours were picked up by a DD and transfered to another LST. He made that invasion, several other island occupations and finished the war in the Pacific. Got out of the service got married had my oldest sister and was called back to go to Germany for the Berlin air lift, finished that came back home and picked up where he left off. He retired as a Mechanical engineer building production lines for the big 3. To say that I'm proud of him is an understatement. They are and were our greatest generation, thanks for reading this and thank you to all are vets.NEVER FORGET.

 

Sorry I forgot this, gangstakr thanks for your posting.

 

May 1940, my dad graduated from the USN Supply School in Athens GA, then was posted to the Asiatic Fleet as an Ensign on the Destroyer Tender USS BLACK HAWK (AD-9), an ancient old tub launched in 1913, that could barely make 13 knots. The fleet was then based in Shanghai China, moved to Cavite PI in 1941.

Unlike MacArthur (who had an 8 hour 'window' after learning of the PH attack, did nothing, then watched as the Japanese bombed Manila and Clark Field, destroying all 35 of the USAAC's new B-17's), Admiral Hart had the foresight to move the bulk of the Asiatic Fleet from Cavite towards Balikpapan, Borneo two days before the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

After dodging the Japanese for the next 6 months, what was left of the Asiatic Fleet made it back to PH. The ship was replenished, then sent to Dutch Harbor AK. The ship had spent its entire career in the tropics, was not equipped for cold weather, now the USN sends it to Seward's Ice Box!

My dad was soon detached, then posted to shore duty in New Orleans, where convoys began that routed Lend-Lease supplies to the Russkies thru the Persian Gulf.

In 1945, my dad joined the Heavy Cruiser USS QUINCY (CA-71) as her Supply Officer. The ship was on its way to the PTO, after serving in the ETO.

V-J Day occured August 15, 1945 and on September 2, 1945, the Japanese signed the surrender documents on deck of the USS MISSOURI (BB63) in Tokyo Bay. The QUINCY was nearby, so the lucky ones with binoculars could watch the ceremony.

My dad's last duty station was in Bremerton WA, de-commissioning ships. By this time, he had reached the rank of Commander.

My grandfather was a Major in the USAAC (later-USAAF), served as a Flight Instructor in CA. One of my uncles enlisted the day after the Pearl Harbor Attack, then spent three years as a corpsman on the Battleship USS TENNESSEE (BB43).

Another of my uncles managed the family shipyards in Sturgeon Bay & Superior WI. The yard built dozens of Frigates, Sub Chasers for the USN, cargo ships for the US Army...and for the Brits.

And another uncle (too old to serve in the military), was the west coast rep for the shipyards.

 

We're losing 1200 VETS a day, shake the hand of a WW2 VET, it'll change your life

 

As of this month there are only five of the Doolittle raiders left out of 80. All are in their very late 80's or 90's! Now those guys were heros!

 

After the war ended, a party hosted by Jimmy Doolittle was held at a San Francisco hotel. A bottle of champagne that was on the table has been passed along ever since to surviving members.

The last survivor opens the bottle and takes a drink.

 

Just watched a show last night about that party, and it is a bottle of Courvoisier Cognac to be split by the last two raiders... the people of Tucson had silver goblets made for each of the raiders that are kept in specially made cases, and as a raider dies their goblet is flipped upside down in the case. Here is the raiders link that tells about the party, and the surviving raiders.

Doolittle Raider - The Goblets

 

My family lived on Marguerita St. in Santa Monica. Just after moving in, my dad said to my mom...guess who lives across the street?

I overheard the conversation, ran oughtta the house, across the street, rang Jimmy Doolittle's door bell. I was seven at the time, but already a WWII history buff.

In the late 1960's, I had a lady customer who owned a 1957 T-Bird, she called me everytime she needed a part. One time I delivered it to her home in Bel-Air.

While speaking with her and her husband in the den, noticed some photographs on the wall. WOW! Her husband was a Doolittle raider, the conversation quickly switched from cars to the Raid.

Grrrr...cannot recall Maybelle's last name.

What show were you watching...The Military Channel series "Pivotal Missions that changed the War?" I thought the title was somewhat mis-leading inre to the Doolittle Raid, because it really didn't change anything.

The mission was FDR's way of boosting morale on the home front...and it did change that...to a degree. Midway was the turning point, was a huge morale booster.

 

Yes it was "Missions that changed the war". Well it did change the war from the standpoint of being a boon to enlistment.. raising the Morale is always a way to change the outcome of a war.. "there is no greater warrior than the heart of a volunteer", as Jimmy Doolittle was supposed to have said. Of Course I am paraphrasing it, but that is the jist of it.

It is great to read Your Stories about that!

 

Well heres one from the AAC side. My dad was a top gunner, tail gunner and flight engineer on B17s. He did not talk to much about what he or his flight crews went through. I asked him once if he knew if he shot down a fighter plane and he said he was not sure. He said he had to fire his guns a few times but not clear on what that meant. He was involved in the european theater in bombing runs over Germany for sure. I have someplace the papers he recieved from the Army for his comendations medals when the AAC changed to the USAF. Two or three large battles that would be recognizable but they are buried in our important papers someplace. A few years ago I did mangage to find a few pics of him and his flight crew on the interenet. This was a few years ago and it took me about 4 days of solid looking at pics of B17 flight crews. There are litteraly hundreds of pics of these brave men and their flight squadrons and groups out there on the net. Im not sure what the bombs on their jackets indicate but would assume they are there for the number of bomb runs they had been on.



In this pic my dad is second from the lft on the bottom row.



In this pic it looks like they were getting ready to go on leave in this pic my dad was bottom row center.
I was always pretty proud of my Dad and did kind of follow in his foot prints. I enlisted in the USAF right out of highschool in 1970. Goundcrew for B52s Ds,Gs, and Hs. I helped with the Vietnam effort out of Guam and Thialand. Im sure we helped rain alot of hell down on heads of a few enemy combatants. If we helped a few of the Army Marines and Navy people on the ground there then well let me say glad to have been of service to you. Id do it again.

 

Bumping this one, seems appropriate.
Thank you to all the Veterans out there.