Pearl Harbor On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii .. By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States ...) In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing a aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decide! to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets. At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack. When it was over, the U.S. losses were: Casualties USA : 218 KIA, 364 WIA. USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA. USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA. Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA. TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA. ------------------------------------------------- Battleships USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss when a bomb hit her magazine. USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor. USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired. USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired. USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired. USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage. USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage. USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage. USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cruisers USS New Orleans(CA-32) - Light Damage.. USS San Francisco(CA38) - Light Damage. USS Detroit(CL-8) - Light Damage. USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired. USS Helena(CL-50) - Light Damage. USS Honolulu(CL-48) - Light Damage.. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Destroyers USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged. USS Cassin - (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged. USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage. USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minelayer USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seaplane Tender USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Repair Ship USS Vestal (AR-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Harbor Tug USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aircraft 188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.) THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO, WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O.
"Let us remember Pearl Harbor..." ...but let's not have the drama like last year. Pay your respects and move on. Got an axe to grind? Save it and move on.
My Grandfather, Joseph Nemish-Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 19 I am a Sons and daughters member. Respect to all those lost. Lest we forget.
thanks for the pics-my grandfather was a fighter pilot in the pacific,was shot down and spendt a year in pearl harbour naval hospital god bless all the vetrenswho seved to keep us safe
100% respect paid. I too had family that served in the war. This year I made my first trip to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona. I actually was surpised by the overhelming feelings of emotion just being there. I'll never forget Pearl Harbor, and the amazing giant of the American spirit that the attack awoke. What an amazing generation... -scott noteboom
thank you for posting..repect to all men and women that serve this great country...we owe them more than we could ever repay...
The memorial is a very humbling place. The "tears of the dead" are very somber. And the emotions present are indeed overwhelming. Here's a pic of the inside of my coupe with an original Remember Pearl Harbor pin.
He's right, the memorial will get to you when you're there. Standing there seeing the oil drops floating up and spreading across the surface after all these years ... My grandfather was a Pearl survivor. They were the generation that got the job done, came home and proceeded to build the lakes cars, early drag cars, organizations, tracks and speed equipment companies of the late 40's and early 50's. 1975, on my way home from a different war over there. I have a flag that's flown at the Arizona Memorial and on the Missouri and New Jersey, among other places.
A Different Christmas Poem The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ', And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."
I will always remember this day with a combination of sorrow and joy. Sorrow for the brave souls lost that day, and for the promises of a future never fulfilled by that loss. Joy, because on December 7th, 1993 I welcomed my daughter into this world, a free world, thanks to the sacrifice of brave men and women then and now. God bless and always remember.
Here is a picture of better days that always takes me back a little bit. Thanks to all who served and is serving.
Remember Pearl! Only 400 of the soldiers at Pearl on December 7th,, are left. Godspeed to those who have left us.
SALUTE to those who gave the ulitmate sacrifice, and those who lived to fight on! Godspeed to all of the Pearl Serviceman.
Ill pay my respects............. But I am very confused about the Reagan picture. Is this from a PH memorial service?
Lest we forget...sad but true, more people died in the World Trade Center than in Pearl Harbor. We face the same threats now, only not as upfront and in your face as the Nazis and Japanese. A radical, Islamic terrorist can be in Afghanistan,Iraq,Amsterdam or Iowa, doesn't matter, they still want to put an end to our free way of Life. We shouldn't sit back and wait for them to bring it to us, we should be out there vigilant and strong. I'm the son of a B17 pilot and an ex-smokejumper myself and I'm behind every young man and woman out there fighting and dying to protect our freedoms.... What we need to do is convince that Islamic kid that its not 72 virgins, its one 72 yr. old virgin!...........rixrex
1995 was the 50th anniversary of WWII, I was building a 39 Chevrolet Master Deluxe sedan and painted it olive drab with the "red ball and star" insignia on the side, vintage Army Air Corps before Pearl Harbor. After Dec. 7th. they quit using the red ball in the center as nervous gunners were shooting at it mistaking it for the rising sun on the Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane. I presented the car to my Dad and he went to all the reunions,parades,banquets etc. After that died down my Dad was talking about "why don't we go ahead and paint it civilian black or something" just as I was preparing for paint, Sept. 11th. came along and the old Army paint was popular again. That paint is looking old enough to be original now, I'll just leave it that way.....rixrex
Awesome, yet poignant photographs. Thanks for the info on the damaged ships. I didnt realize so many of them were floated or salvaged.
Lest We Forget. I tip my hat to all who served and all still serving. It was recently bought home to me again the dangers of standing up and serving your country even in peace time. A friend I served with was recently killed in a helicopter crash off Fiji. "The price of peace is eternal vigilance"
This year is the last year for the survivors of the Pearl Harbor get together, their numbers are dwindiling everyday, they're to frail that they can't make the trip to the reunion anymore, so they agreed that this would be their last year together. Man, that sucks... R.I.P Sailors and Marines you will never be forgotten...
The day I brought the `41 Coupe home I took my younger son for a ride. One of the first things I told him was, "Can you imagine who owned this car and what it's history might be?" I said maybe this was bought new by a young man or woman and they brought it home beaming with pride. Might have been the last carefree and funfilled months before America went to war. Everytime I slip into that old girl she takes me back, when I look at America through her windshield I think back to what it was like when she was new. I imagine a brief innocence on the part of the first owner before the seriousness of a World War set in. Thanks to all who serve.
Man I'm saddened to learn that this is there last reunion. Its also kinda sad that more people haven't payed respects here to the people who gave them so much. Thanks all who have posted.
The Jalopy Journal
