This site uses cookies to maintain login information on FarmallCub.Com. Click the X in the banner upper right corner to close this notice. For more information on our privacy policy, visit this link:
Privacy Policy

NEW REGISTERED MEMBERS: Be sure to check your SPAM/JUNK folders for the activation email.

Lest we should forget

Anything that might not belong on the other message boards!
User avatar
Bigdog
Team Cub Mentor
Team Cub Mentor
Posts: 24144
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 12:50 pm
Zip Code: 43113
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: OH, Circleville
Contact:

Lest we should forget

Postby Bigdog » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:28 am

My apologies for the length but it is worth the time it takes to read:


Dec 7, 7:58 AM EST
Pearl Harbor survivors meet for last time

By JAYMES SONG Associated Press Writer PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) -- With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. This, they say, will be their final farewell.

"This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."

The survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but they're now in their 80s or 90s and are not counting on a 70th reunion. They have made every effort to report for one final roll call.

"We're like the dodo bird. We're almost extinct," said Middlesworth, now an 83-year-old retiree from Upland, Calif., but then - on Dec. 7, 1941 - an 18-year-old Marine on the USS San Francisco.

Nearly 500 survivors from across the nation were expected to make the trip to Hawaii, bringing with them 1,300 family members, numerous wheelchairs and too many haunting memories.

Memories of a shocking, two-hour aerial raid that destroyed or heavily damaged 21 ships and 320 aircraft, that killed 2,390 people and wounded 1,178 others, that plunged the United States into World War II and set in motion the events that led to atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"I suspect not many people have thought about this, but we're witnessing history," said Daniel Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial. "We are seeing the passing of a generation."

---

The attack may have occurred 65 years ago, but survivors say they can still hear the explosions, smell the burning flesh, taste the sea water and hear the cries.

"The younger ones were crying, 'Mom! Mom! Mom!'" said Edward Chun, who witnessed the attack from the Ten-Ten dock, just a couple hundred yards away from Battleship Row.

Chun, 83, had just begun his workday as a civilian pipe fitter when he was thrust into assisting in everything from spraying water on the ships to aiding casualties.

"From the time the first bomb dropped and for the next 15 minutes, it was complete chaos," he said. "Nobody knew what was going on. Everybody was running around like a chicken with their head cut off."

Chun saw the Oklahoma and West Virginia torpedoed by Japanese aircraft. He heard the tapping of sailors trapped in the hulls of sunken ships. He escaped death when Ten-Ten was strafed, leaving behind dead and wounded.

"How I never got hit, I don't know," said Chun, who was later drafted and served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. "I'll tell you a secret: When your number comes up, you're going to go. Well, every morning I get up, I change my number."

Everett Hyland doesn't know how he stayed alive when almost everyone around him didn't. He was radioman aboard the Pennsylvania, which was in Dry Dock No. 1, and was helping transport ammunition to the anti-aircraft gun when a bomb exploded.

Badly burned, Hyland regained consciousness 18 days later, on Christmas night. During that time, his older brother visited.

"The only way he knew it was me was the tag on my toe," Hyland said. "He (later) told me we looked like roast turkeys lined up."

Today, scar tissue covers most of his arms and legs.

"I got a quick facial out of it. I used to be a freckled-faced kid," he said. "I don't have any lips. They could fix faces, but they couldn't build any lips."

And he was lucky.

Many of the dead were teenage sailors and Marines away from home for the first time. They died before they had an opportunity to get married, have children, build lives.

Four in five servicemen on the USS Arizona - 1,177 in all - did not survive the day. It was the greatest loss of life of any ship in U.S. naval history. They remain entombed in the battleship's sunken hull, which still seeps oil every few seconds, leaving a colorful sheen on the harbor water.

The survivors say they have more than horrific memories to offer. "Remember Pearl Harbor" is just the first half of the association's motto; the rest is "Keep America alert."

Martinez said many Pearl Harbor survivors were disheartened by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "as if they had not done their job hard enough."

Once again, it seemed that America had been caught sleeping. Interest in Pearl Harbor and its aging survivors surged. The old soldiers are much in demand - to sign autographs, walk in parades, speak to classrooms and pose for pictures. Visits to the USS Arizona Memorial are at record levels.

Not that everyone sees similarities between the two attacks. "There is no comparison," Hyland said. "That was terrorists killing a pile of civilians. Here, you had professional fighters versus professional fighters. Two different things."

There are those who are unable to forgive the Japanese, But others testify to the power of reconciliation.

"There are some guys that are going to die with hate in their heart. I don't have in me any hatred in my heart," said 87-year-old survivor Lee Soucy, of Plainview, Texas. "They were doing their job just like we were."

Hyland, who was almost killed in the attack, married a woman from Japan. They met at the 50th Pearl Harbor anniversary and wed the following year.

"I got over it a long time ago," he said.

---

Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who dubbed Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II "the greatest generation," agreed to be keynote speaker for Thursday's ceremony. A moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. was to mark the time when the attack began.

Martinez, the USS Arizona historian, likened it to another reunion 68 years ago - the final gathering of Civil War veterans in Gettysburg, Pa., when aging warriors in blue and gray shook hands and shared war stories. In 1938, as in 2006, the nation faced an uncertain future in a world gripped by conflict.

"The passing of that generation had its moment and we're going to have ours," he said.

But some veterans don't believe, or refuse to accept, that this will be the last major gathering.

"They claimed the 60th was going to be the last one. Now they have the 65th. When they have the 70th, then they'll be claiming, 'This will be the last one,'" Hyland said. "They've been crying wolf too many times."

Hyland does accept the fact that their numbers are falling fast.

"We all have our turn and our turn is getting closer," he said.

But until then, they are drawn to Pearl Harbor, and to each other. Military historian Douglas Smith, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., says they are proud of their service and eager to return "to their glory days," but most of all they revel in the bonds they formed long ago, when they were young.

The bond is so strong that some ask to have their ashes interred inside the Arizona, laid to rest with shipmates who were not so fortunate as to survive Dec. 7, 1941.

"They're coming home," Middlesworth said. "They feel they're coming home."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Bigdog
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

My wife says I don't listen to her. - - - - - - - - Or something like that!

Image

http://www.cubtug.com

SPONSOR AD

Sponsor



Sponsor
 

evielboweviel
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 1841
Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:28 pm
Zip Code: 43130
eBay ID: evilboweviel
Location: OH, Lancaster

Postby evielboweviel » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:50 am

THANKS FOR POSTING THAT
Ron

User avatar
George Willer
Cub Pro
Cub Pro
Posts: 7013
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 9:36 pm
Zip Code: 43420
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: OHIO, Fremont
Contact:

Postby George Willer » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:21 pm

Thanks for posting that. Those of us who even remember Pearl Harbor are getting fewer. :(
George Willer
http://gwill.net

The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog. Ambrose Bierce

jim turner
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 1750
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 1:09 pm
Zip Code: 64784
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: Mo, Sheldon
Contact:

Postby jim turner » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:51 pm

Big Dog Thanks I barely remember it but I do. I had an Uncle there that survived however he passed last summer.
Jim Turner

Mac from NS
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 631
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:16 am
Location: Port Maitland Yar.Co. N.S.

Postby Mac from NS » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:03 pm

Thanks for posting it .
Take a little time to play,you don't grow old as fast that way.

Mac

Donny M
10+ Years
10+ Years

Postby Donny M » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:30 pm

"as if they had not done their job hard enough."


Brings tears to my eyes. We're a bunch of spoiled brats in this day and age :!: :!: Hard enough :?: I would say so :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:
8)

User avatar
Bigdog
Team Cub Mentor
Team Cub Mentor
Posts: 24144
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 12:50 pm
Zip Code: 43113
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: OH, Circleville
Contact:

Postby Bigdog » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:40 pm

I picked up on that too Donny. It sure shows the different mind-set between that generation and today's generation of "What can the government do for me?" freeloaders.
Bigdog
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

My wife says I don't listen to her. - - - - - - - - Or something like that!

Image

http://www.cubtug.com

User avatar
Rudi
Cub Pro
Cub Pro
Posts: 28706
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 8:37 pm
Zip Code: E1A7J3
Skype Name: R.H. "Rudi" Saueracker, SSM
Tractors Owned: 1947 Cub "Granny"
1948 Cub "Ellie-Mae"
1968 Cub Lo-Boy
Dad's Putt-Putt
IH 129 CC
McCormick 100 Manure Spreader
McCormick 100-H Manure Spreader
Post Hole Digger
M-H #1 Potato Digger
Circle of Safety: Y
Twitter ID: Rudi Saueracker, SSM
Location: NB Dieppe, Canada
Contact:

Postby Rudi » Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:42 pm

My brother-in-law and his wife visited the USS Arizona two years ago on their 25th anniversary, he brought me home some mementoes as he knows how much I love history and how I value and respect the sacrifices of those who have gone before.

One of the things he said that really affected me, was as he was visiting the Memorial, he felt not alone, but in a great company and he felt very safe. It was an eerie feeling for him.

Almost as if they are Still On Guard :!:

He, as a civilian and having never served in the military was quite taken aback by this feeling, and has yet to forget it.. he thinks he probably never will...

Semper Fi :!:
Confusion breeds Discussion which breeds Knowledge which breeds Confidence which breeds Friendship


User avatar
Bigdog
Team Cub Mentor
Team Cub Mentor
Posts: 24144
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 12:50 pm
Zip Code: 43113
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: OH, Circleville
Contact:

Postby Bigdog » Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:08 pm

I had the priviledge of visiting Pearl back in 1988. I think the highlight of the visit was the chance to chat with some of the vets who volunteer at the park and were willing to share their experiences with us. It is one thing to see a rusting hulk, it is quite something else to re-live the experiences of that day with one who was there. It adds a personal perspective that the history books cannot come close to conveying.

I was also amazed at the number of Japanese tourists who visit Pearl. One has to wonder what is going through their minds.
Bigdog
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

My wife says I don't listen to her. - - - - - - - - Or something like that!

Image

http://www.cubtug.com

ljw
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 8:17 pm
Zip Code: 45042
Location: Middletown, OH

Postby ljw » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:03 pm

Bigdog,
Thanks for posting. It is cause for reflection.
Larry
The majority of men live lives of quiet desperation- Henry David Thoreau

VinceD
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 4587
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:17 pm
Zip Code: 65626
Tractors Owned: 1949 Cub "Frodo"
1949 Cub "Sam" (future Project)
1965 Lo-Boy "Pippin"
1940 H "Walter"
1953 SC "Gimli"
Cub Cadet HDS 2155
Circle of Safety: Y
Location: MO, Bakersfield, (South - Central)

Postby VinceD » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:18 pm

Thanks Bigdog, That post should be on the front page of every paper for all to read and think about. Unfortunately, it would probably end up buried below Legal Notices.
Vince
High atop Hummingbird Hill
In the Missouri Ozarks
Image

User avatar
beaconlight
10+ Years
10+ Years
Posts: 7703
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:31 pm
Zip Code: 10314
Location: NY Staten Island & Franklin

Postby beaconlight » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:26 pm

I remember that Sunday clearly. God Bless them all. Thanks BD.

Bill
Bill

"Life's tough.It's even tougher if you're stupid."
- John Wayne

" We hang petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."
- Aesop


Return to “Off Topic”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests