Pearl Harbor Day

[shrubber]

Please take a moment to reflect yourselves and educate your children.

http://www.ussarizona.org/

A reminder, flags at half staff.

 

[Pixiedust34]

If anyone is interested in WWII, tune into TCM right now. They are airing some good WWII documentaries.

 

[shrubber]

wow, one post for over 2000 lost Americans.
Remember Pearl Harbor....anybody?

 

[Flight]

I asked my kids if they knew what historical event took place today. A few knew the answer.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

History Channel also has several programs today in remembrance.

We took the kids to Pearl Harbor a few years ago (DD was 4 and DS 8). I didn't think they'd "get it", honestly I was mostly hoping they would be respectful.

My DD looked down at the water and saw the oil coming up from the Arizona. She turned to me and told me the ship was crying for all the men who died. It was a very touching moment.

Let us not forget.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I asked DS13 what today was ... jeez mom it's Pearl Harbor Day. He knows. We took both kids to the Arizona Memorial and to the Battleship Missouri. I think everyone needs to make that trip at least once.

 

[agnes!]

History Channel also has several programs today in remembrance.

We took the kids to Pearl Harbor a few years ago (DD was 4 and DS 8). I didn't think they'd "get it", honestly I was mostly hoping they would be respectful.

My DD looked down at the water and saw the oil coming up from the Arizona. She turned to me and told me the ship was crying for all the men who died. It was a very touching moment.

Let us not forget.

Oh my word, that gives me chills.
agnes!

 

[BalooTheBear]

wow, one post for over 2000 lost Americans.
Remember Pearl Harbor....anybody?

You actually did better than I did - I started a post earlier this morning...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2346040

 

[Pixiedust34]

I asked my kids if they knew what historical event took place today. A few knew the answer.

My dh said he asked his 1st period 6th grade class if anyone knew why 12/7/41 is a famous date in history. No one knew. Our Greatest Generation is already being forgotten.

 

[honugirl]

If you're interested in keeping the memory of the Greatest Generation alive, please consider helping out Honor Flights. http://www.honorflight.org/ They fly WW2 vets to D.C. to see their memorial at NO COST to them. Our chapter is having out next flight March 22nd. I'm hoping to go along as a guardian, but if I can't, I'm looking forward to being at the airport to see them off.

Never forget what they did for us because without them, there wouldn't be a USA.

 

[DawnCt1]

We were fortunate enough to be able to take our children to Pearl Harbor when the youngest was about 8 years old. All four were very impressed. This is the survivor they met and the story he told. They remember it today.What this author doesn't mention is that Mitsuo Fuchida becomes a Christian and ultimately a Methodist minister.
http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon2/forgivenes_at_pearl_harbor.htm

Last March, my husband and I were spending our anniversary in Hawaii. I was very excited to see the Pearl Harbor monument for the first time and couldn't wait to get there. I knew that I would learn more about the history of the event, but I had no idea what was in store for me.

As we waited for our group's turn for the movie and ferry to the USS Arizona monument, Marty & I browsed the souvenir shop. We heard that a survivor of the bombing would be speaking in the courtyard outside. Fascinated, we hurried over to listen.

Dr. Joe Morgan, a handsome 79 year-old man was humble as he recalled the nightmare attack of the Japanese on Peal Harbor. His voice was soft and intense with the memories still vivid sixty years later. Joe was stationed at on the southwestern shore of Ford Island, which is right in the center of Pearl Harbor. It was his lot that infamous Sunday morning to pull duty in Aircraft Utility Squadron Two. At 7:55 am, he heard the planes diving. At first Joe assumed they were the usual planes that came in ahead of the aircraft carriers. Then the bombing began.

The nineteen year-old Texan, who had joined the Navy to "see the world", was confused as the .25 caliber machine gun bullets rained down around him. As he watched his fellow sailors fall, hit and bleeding around him, his confusion turned to a horrified fear that gripped his heart. He then heard the loud explosion on the runway and as he looked up he saw the symbol of the rising sun. It was then that he realized they were being attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy. His first instinct was to hide, so deep in the hangar he found a steel "I" beam and squeezed into it for protection. Seeing the other young men around him scramble for handguns and weapons of any kind, he felt ashamed of himself. Running outside to face his attackers, Joe saw a machine gun abandoned and took up his post, frightened and shaking in his number eight shoes.

Filled with a deep and intense fury, Joe felt a burning hatred for the Japanese nation as he fired and shot down the Japanese planes. He watched the Japanese midget submarines gunned down and sunk with satisfaction in his heart. Although Joe was a Christian, he found himself unable to shake off the hatred he felt for the nation that had so shockingly killed many young American men.

As the battle raged on, Joe fought hard and with hatred he had never known. The battle finally ended, with 2,403 Americans killed, 68 of them civilians. The men were unsure if the Japanese would come back, so Joe and many others stayed at their posts all night, ready for another attack. During the night, Joe said a prayer that changed his life. He promised God that if he survived that war, he would become a preacher.

The attack on Pearl Harbor changed Joe's life forever, and although he kept his word to God, he never quite got the feelings for the Japanese nation out of his heart. Joe was transferred to the island of Maui three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joe and Blanche, still together today, were married the day before his transfer.

As I stood, hypnotized and carried back sixty years, I glanced over and watched Blanche. She obviously adored him and their son who stood next to Joe, his arm around his father as he recounted his tale of the day that lived in infamy. Tears filled my eyes as I saw the incredible love within this family and listened to the horror this sweet elderly man had survived.

As Joe's soft voice continued, the rest of this amazing story played out. Joe became a pastor of the Wailuku Baptist Church in Maui in August 1954, fresh out of the seminary.

Although impressed by Joe, his mesmerizing firsthand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and by his dedication to keep his promise to God, I was jolted at the next part of Joe's story.

Two years after Joe became a pastor, Mitsuo Fuchida came to Maui. Mitsuo Fuchida was the commander of the naval air forces that led the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning with Ford Island, on December 7, 1941.

It had been fifteen years since Joe had survived that attack, but he still had mixed feelings about listening to Fuchida's story. After much turmoil and debate, Joe decided to go and listen to Commander Fuchida. He listened with awe as Fuchida told of becoming a Christian. After Fuchida's talk was over, Dr. Joe Morgan went up and introduced himself to the man who had led the attack that changed his life.

Mitsuo Fuchida immediately bowed and said one word in Japanese. "Gomenasai." He said simply. "I am sorry."

What happened next was as an important moment as any other in history. Fuchida reached out to shake Joe's hand and as Joe clasped his former enemy's hand in his, he realized all the anger and animosity toward this man and his country were gone. God had replaced them with forgiveness.

Joe Morgan and Mitsuo Fuchida shook hands, not as enemies, but as brothers in Christ.

Tears filled our eyes as Marty and I stood, listening with awe and deep emotion. Our call came for the tour, and we had to tear ourselves away from this incredible story of forgiveness and of God bringing two former enemies together to meet as brothers.

Once they were shooting at each other. Now, brothers in Christ, they would fight a common foe: hated and unforgiveness. I learned a lot at the Arizona Memorial, but I did not expect such an impact of one solitary act. Forgiveness at Pearl Harbor.

Susan Fahncke Copyright 2001 Editor@2theheart.com

 

[robinb]

I visited the Arizona Memorial many years ago:

I cried and cried. Years later I visited Hiroshima and cried and cried some more. Both places are very moving.

 

[PaulaSue]

This needs to be bumped.

 

[FINFAN]

DS came home form school today VERY irritated that nothing was said, not even in his US History class to acknowledge today. Honestly, I was disgusted by the lack of consideration by the school, but I guess not surprised. My Dad was on Saipan during WWII, a medic. Just 7 years ago, my Dad was finally awarded his bronze star among other medals for his service, it only took 57 years to finally award him for his dedication and service......my Dad is still with us but quite ill, HE knew what today was. Thaks OP for posting...I appreciate it.

 

[agnes!]

My dh said he asked his 1st period 6th grade class if anyone knew why 12/7/41 is a famous date in history. No one knew. Our Greatest Generation is already being forgotten.

Not by my kid they're not.

agnes!

 

[shelly3girls]

Pearl Harbor is probably the most emotional place I have ever been. I will take our children to see it so that they will never forget those who fought and died.

 

[FloraFauna]

God bless all who fought and died at Pearl Harbor.

I also visited the memorial back in 1989. It is something I will never forget.

 

[rparmfamily]

Of course this is a very significant day here. I observed the moment of silence and actually drove past the memorial this morning, about 10 mins before the moment of silence/flyover/etc.

My 3rd grader said they talked about it, my 2nd grader said they didn't.

DH is stationed on a ship here at Pearl Harbor.

 

[Deb in IA]

We took our kids, who, at 18 and 14, should remember this, to Pearl Harbor this past summer.

I asked our 14 year old if they mentioned today in his World History class today. Sadly, he said "no". Talk about a teachable moment lost.

We made sure we talked about it at dinner last night.

It appears that the "day that will live in infamy" is now no longer quite so alive.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

DS was glued to the Military Channel and History Channel last night. WWII is his favorite subject. His Grandpa was in the Navy at the end of the war along with several great uncles.