Ever curious how our veterans heard the news? If you have any stories on that, relate them, here. My Dad was just turned 19. He and his gang heard it come over the radio at Pop's Drug Store and Soda Fountain, in Cicero, IL. He said nobody there knew what Pearl Harbor was. I suppose that's how it was in a lot of the cases. My grandmother at the time was working at the Western Electric plant where they were making communications equipment for the War effort, so it's not like the general population didn't know something, somewhere, was going to break.
A date which will live in infamy...
- Thread starter VBF-13
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
I'm not surprised that most Americans didn't know where Pearl Harbour was, I remember when the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina a lot of British people actually thought that the Falklands were up near the Hebrides and couldn't understand how the Argies had managed to invade some islands off the coast of Scotland. If nothing else War certainly puts places on the map.
GregP
Major
At the Planes of Fame today we could not fly our Val and traxi our Judy due to heavy rain. But we had a great presentation by a Pearl Harbor survivor (and others).
His overriding memory was diving into a trench to avoid being machine gunned by a Zero (or other Japanese plane ... he said nobody really knew what a "Zero" looked like and all assumed their attacker was a Zero ...) and landing next to General who asked him why his necktie was not on straight! He could not remember his answer, but was sure it was along the lines of "when people shoot at me I duck, Sir! Sorry, Sir"
He said there was a lot of despair, cowardice, and heroism at the same time, sometimes by the same guy. You never know when someone gets pushed to his limits and reacts positively at just the right time.
I thought that to be a unique viewpoint, but understand. It was similar in Viet Nam some years later. We didn't know WHO would would prove good in combat and who would be a liability ... you found our when you were attacked and didn't forget later. Your survival depended on it and you stuck with the "good guys" as much as possible.
His overriding memory was diving into a trench to avoid being machine gunned by a Zero (or other Japanese plane ... he said nobody really knew what a "Zero" looked like and all assumed their attacker was a Zero ...) and landing next to General who asked him why his necktie was not on straight! He could not remember his answer, but was sure it was along the lines of "when people shoot at me I duck, Sir! Sorry, Sir"
He said there was a lot of despair, cowardice, and heroism at the same time, sometimes by the same guy. You never know when someone gets pushed to his limits and reacts positively at just the right time.
I thought that to be a unique viewpoint, but understand. It was similar in Viet Nam some years later. We didn't know WHO would would prove good in combat and who would be a liability ... you found our when you were attacked and didn't forget later. Your survival depended on it and you stuck with the "good guys" as much as possible.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #4
N4521U
Colonel
I knew a PHS...... he was a sailor..............
you wouldn't have wanted to know him either!
you wouldn't have wanted to know him either!
GregP
Major
Actually I didn't talk with this particular survivor personally ... he gave a talk to about 250 people and I listened along with the crowd.
About the different emotions and actions from the same guy, he said one guy screamed, started crying, ran away from his post, jumped into a trench and then got angry. He ran back to a machine gun emplacement, manned it and started shooting at the attackers! Now THAT guy had a lot of conflicting emotions in a short time, I'd suppose ...
After that talk, it was supposed to be time to fly, but it was raining hard. We left and went to Aircraft Spruce for some replacement tools that had been broken, and got back in time for the rain to stop but most people had already left. They cleaned the water out of the cockpits, cleaned the windshields and surfaces, and put the planes away. Pretty neat talk by 3 people including Dan King (The Last Zero Fighter author), but no flying ...
About the different emotions and actions from the same guy, he said one guy screamed, started crying, ran away from his post, jumped into a trench and then got angry. He ran back to a machine gun emplacement, manned it and started shooting at the attackers! Now THAT guy had a lot of conflicting emotions in a short time, I'd suppose ...
After that talk, it was supposed to be time to fly, but it was raining hard. We left and went to Aircraft Spruce for some replacement tools that had been broken, and got back in time for the rain to stop but most people had already left. They cleaned the water out of the cockpits, cleaned the windshields and surfaces, and put the planes away. Pretty neat talk by 3 people including Dan King (The Last Zero Fighter author), but no flying ...
davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
When I was a teenager growing up in Pensacola, some Navy men, who obviously had pull, invited Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese air commander at the attack on Pearl Harbor, to come to my church to give his testimony. He had converted to Christianity after the war due to one of the Tokyo raiders crewmembers, Jacob DeShazer who went back to Japan as a missionary and had become a good friend of Fuchida. Anyway, I went to hear his testimony. Unfortunately I was too young to really appreciate the historical significance of meeting him. I don't remember too much about the testimony but it would not and did not center on wartime events. I do remember that he said that he fully believed that God had spared him from the death that swallowed most, if not all, of his cohorts so that he could become a missionary.
