I think I may be a generation ahead of you -- I'm a Baby Boomer -- so my father was in WWII. Europe, though, not the Pacific. He rarely talked about it. I heard more stories from my mother, who was in college at the time, and could tell the homefront side of things. Definitely not just a history lesson for me.

Agreed. The oddest thing about it to me, however, was that the all of the visitors on the boat that came to pick us up from the Memorial were Japanese. I've spent a long time thinking about that.

I agree. I know that, for a lot of the Japanese tourists, it's more than just a stop on the tour. So many of them, even if they weren't even alive at the time of the bombing, have tremendous guilt and shame for what happened on December 7th. I think they have a word for it too.. haji, I think.

We still remember, 66 years later.
 

http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/07/news/art1a.jpg

2500 American flags flew proudly at Richardson Field (adjacent to Pearl Harbor). The flags represent each life lost on December 7, 1941 as well as the Hawaii casualties from the Iraq war. Gov. Lingle ordered that all flags be at half staff today.

My Hawaiian "mom" was a teenager on 12-7-41...she was walking home and saw planes flying low overhead. She glanced up and when she saw the red zeroes under the wings instead of green stars, her blood ran cold; she's of Japanese descent and knew right off what was going on.

I have been reminded all day ... the flags for our site are visible from my office window and have been at half staff all day ...

My husband and I visited the Arizona Memorial when we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. It was a very moving experience. I highly recommend visiting it if you havent.

I salute our fellow Americans who lost their lives that day in the attacks and have lost their lives since protecting and serving our great nation. They are the greatest Americans.

Thank you, as your State got so hard hit and the Day of Infamy is still going on today!


We are all trying to get over it, but the many Men were killed is hard to forget and what what was done to Japanese Americans because of the worries at the time in history.

Everytime when we go to Hawai'i, the Big Island, we pay a small tribute regarding this day.

I don't know how anyone else feels about it but the movie made a big mockery of the day...I wasn't impressed.

if it was on par with Private Ryan....it would have had a chance....

I felt the movie played up the love triangle theme more than our sacrifices and hardships at Pearl Harbor that day. But that's just my opinion.

True, while full of new FX it was almost as "bad" as films made at the time that were more PR than fact. Just saw "Air Force" which was about a B-17 and her crew on Bataan.

Made it seem as if we won the war in 6 months.

The "Bridge over the River Kwai" was a sham. If made today, it would:
Not be shown in Japan
Would be about a 2-3 hour version of the first 30 minutes of SPR.
One would walk out sickened by what happened but full of pride in what those men went throught and did just to live.

I do wish to thank OTW for bringing this thread back to life.

I thought of my late eye doctor several times today and what he, his crew and the rest of Pearl went through.

May have been helped along as I was reading a book about the US Army and Navy nurses captured at Bataan.
Those ladies never received the honors that they truly earned.

Over the past few years I have noticed in the book stores many new books that cover some of the "small, special" things that happened that
were not covered before.

Perhaps because that generation is fast leaving us. And their immediate families are getting older.

Which means that means a great deal of first hand information will soon be gone.

As it is, the thoughts and feelings of that day, of that war are fading away.

Jon...thats because in a few years just about any person that was actually in teh war will be gone...have yo noriced how many documentaries there are out now about WWII?

did anyone catch The War on PBS?

pretty good stuff....

I do understand that all too well; my Uncle was 2nd wave Omaha Beach.
My late eye doctor had front row seats to Battleship Row as well as the rest of naval war as Gunnery Officer on the USS Patterson.
http://hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd392txt.htm

Was part of the reasoning in my posting.

However I am glad that others see that as well.

The War was very good show.

Not a problem. I pass by the Arizona Memorial at least twice a day, so I am constantly reminded of the events of that infamous day.

Let me share this piece with you guys as December 7th winds down here in paradise.

Growing up here we'd always bring visiting friends and family to the Arizona Memorial. One of the individuals I remember from my childhood was Mr. Fiske, a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was a LONGTIME volunteer there, and he'd always remind us -- "NEVER FORGET." See, he knew he wasn't going to live forever, and he was afraid that people would forget.

http://www.pearlharborstories.org/si.../500-FISKE.jpg

http://www.pearlharborstories.org/node/320

Mr. Fiske died about 3 years ago, and I remember the first commemoration ceremony without him just wasn't the same. He was the voice of the Arizona Memorial.

I still remember the stories he told me when I was a kid. And rest assured that I'll be making sure that we all remember December 7th.

I just saw his interview on TV and did not realize that he had passed.:(

Thank you for point this out and it is nice that you had the chance to meet him.

He did not consider himself as a hero, but He truely was no matter what!