Today marks the 77th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over the years, we have met many of the brave men and women who survived the attack that began the US involvement in WWII, ‘A day that will live in infamy.’
For the 74th Anniversary, theCHIVE brought 18 survivors back to Pearl Harbor, most had not seen Honolulu or the USS Arizona since the day her hull was hit by a bomb, breaching the deck and detonating the forward powder magazine.
We took the survivors to the USS Arizona. Something happened there I’ll never forget, the men knew the names on the memorial wall. They remembered playing flag football with them the morning of the attack, and they remembered the sound of the Japanese A6M Zero’s as they dive bombed the Arizona. They remembered hiding in a trench for three days waiting for the next attack that never came, a tragic mistake by Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto.
Perhaps my favorite story of Pearl Harbor is what happened after the attacks. Both my grandfather served in Pearl Harbor, my grandpa Dave served in the Pacific theatre. So when I speak of the attacks on Pearl Harbor I like reminding people of the Doolittle Raids that followed.
“Four months after Pearl Harbor, sixteen B-25 bombers left the deck of the Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet deep in the western Pacific ocean. The B-25’s had been stripped to lighten the planes, then loaded down with bombs and fuel. Eighty brave men volunteered for the dangerous mission, a mission so top secret they wouldn’t know the target until just before wheels up. They knew only one thing: This was retribution for the lives lost at Pearl Harbor.
The bombers would not have enough fuel to return, the plan was to ditch the planes and bail out somewhere over China. Given the Japanese fortifications across the Pacific Rim, bombing Tokyo would have been the American equivalent to bombing Washington D.C.
At 7:38am on April 18th, 1942 the ‘Doolittle Raiders’ turned their wingtips toward Tokyo.
Emperor Hirohito had decreed Tokyo invincible, he had told his people that the bombing of the Japanese mainland was impossible. The Americans had taken issue with this notion, as did the first 500 lb. bomb that penetrated the Japanese steel mill early that morning – A symbolic message struck at the heart of the Japanese people. We have pierced your walls. Your golden city is not invincible.”
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care… and stuffed delicately to the brim with tiny gifts and fanfare…
Stocking stuffers may be the smallest present given during the holiday season, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring or throw-away gifts. Snag yours RIGHT HERE!
