Bump...................

It is Dec. 7th.............Remember the fallen, and all those that have served.
And, especially those from the Greatest Generation.......Their kind will never be seen again.

 

Stu...thanks for this thread!!! Indeed...as FDR said...December 7, 1941 is a day that will live in infamy!!! Unfortunately...there are generations of individuals who don't have a real good idea of what happened...we must continue to educate them.

My father also served during WWII...all be it...near the end. He was in the Navy...served on the USS Massey.

 

My grandaddy was in the navy at pearl harbor, he has'nt really talked about it much. He is still alive at 93, lives alone and still cuts his own grass ( about 2-3 acres ) One tough guy.

 

He sounds like Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood, 'Gran Torino'). I hope you have a good relationship with him, and that he shares some of his experiences with you.

 

I've known a fellow since 1999 because of being a volunteer on the USS Hornet. He is a plankowner and one of the original crew when she set to sea after her shakedown. However, before that, he was at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS San Francisco at the time of the attack. He was also aboard the San Francisco and for those that don't know she was hit 45 times by a battleship, cruiser and destroyer during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The navigation bridge took a direct hit and lost Adm. Callaghan along with Captain Cassin Young. Captain Young had been awarded the Medal of Honor for acts duirng the Pearl Harbor attack and the Navy Cross for this battle posthumously. A destroyer, DD-793, was named after him and is now a museum near the USS Constitution. Adm. Callaghan, born in San Francisco, was awarded the Medal of Honor. His son was the first Captain of the new battleship, USS Missouri.

Adm. Callaghan was the second admiral lost in that battle. Adm. Scott was the first when he also was killed by a direct hit on the bridge of the USS Atlanta by... the USS San Francisco which hit the Atlanta several times before she went down. The fog of battle. The San Francisco made it back to Mare Island as she suffered no hits below the waterline. Her Nav Bridge was removed and is now on display in Golden Gate Park full of shell holes and splinter holes. This fellow was then assigned to the Hornet for the rest of the war and then returned to Hayward, CA. where he still owns the entire block he bought back then and farms his many fruit trees and very large vegetable garden. A very straight talking fellow with a great sense of humor. Always asks you to punch him in the stomach which is hard as steel plate, I know. He was a machinist mate.

Another fellow I met on the Hornet was one of the original helmsmen. Would tell me stories of when the Hornet was under attack and Captain Doyle wanted him as the helmsman. At the time the Captain sat in the Pilot House when under attack as the Hornet had an open bridge back then. The Captain would just look at him and he would know exactly which way to steer the ship based on the look alone as the noise was so great it was hard to hear. Haven't seen him in 6 years now and I fear he has passed away. The Hornet admin may not have been thrilled with him since he liked to come aboard on Living Ship Day and talk to people in the Pilothouse. He always came with a small pack that held a 6 pack of beer which may have been the reason. Didn't drink in the Pilot House but would have a beer or two in the lounge. When I would walk in for lunch he would say sit down and have a beer with me and then he'd talk.

The Hornet has given me the chance to meet a lot of WWII vets on a weekly basis. They have dwindled over the last 11 years and only handfull are left. A 86 year old pilot still comes down each Sunday for a few hours to talk to people on the flight deck as he has a hard time making it up the ladders into the Island now. He gives demonstrations to the kids on how he used the paddles when he was a Landing Signals Officer in the 50's after flying and before Meterology. Has a great story, well others do, when he landed on the wrong carrier one night after a flight exercise.

Last story. Another fellow I know, born 1936, comes into my office. A quiet man who seems a little stand offish. A nuclear physicist who was CEO of a very large power holding company. He sees the Navy stuff around my office and relates a story to me. Every Sunday morning the family would go down to the pier to see their father off for that days duty aboard his cruiser. His father served on the USS Detroit as a Lt. at the time. Well they were down at the pier as usual on 7:45 am to see him off in the launch... on December 7th 1941. Before the launch left the pier all hell broke loose overhead. The launch leaves from Pearl City which is on the cruiser side of Ford Island. He remembers his mother crying, he remembers his father saying he was going to be the man in the family now and to take care of his mother, and he remembers the big explosions at Ford Island. Was confined to the base for several hours after the attack before allowed off and then was sent back to San Francisco on a troop transport in March 1942 when dependents were sent mainland. His father did survive the war serving with the Navy on ships.