OT: 83rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor American Heros

Just left Normandy. It is important to remember the sacrifices made in furtherance of the freedom of mankind.

 

My dad was just finishing his first semester as a freshman at UF on that day. He took all his belongings back home to Tampa for Christmas break and enlisted in the Army. He wasn’t able to return to UF until 1946 after serving in Europe first then being sent to invade Japan which fortunately got cancelled when we dropped the A-bombs. I’ve said many times that those A-bombs probably saved my future life. Even for us boomers who were the children of that generation and heard the stories first hand it’s hard to grasp the total disruption of American way of life caused on December 7.

 

Visited the American Cemetary and Utah and Omaha beaches in October. Every American should go if they can.

 

My Father was at UF when this happened. He came home for Christmas break and enlisted in the Marines.

Pearl Harbor bombed | December 7, 1941 | HISTORY

 

Tried to upload one of my photos but it was “too large.”

Above is one from a website.

 

The day after Pearl Harbor, my father took the subway downtown to volunteer. He eventually was shipped to the Pacific. I have his Purple Heart.

 

My Dad enlisted in 1943 at 18, in 1945 he was on a ship heading to invade Japan when the bombs were dropped.

Go Army beat Navy

 

Throughout human history, unprovoked attacks have often been met with devastating consequences. Time and again, the outcome remains the same—lessons hard-earned, as the Japanese experienced firsthand.

 

My dad was actually sitting in the ship offshore waiting for the invasion order. He ended up going ashore as the occupying force after the surrender.

 

My Dad said, their ships could not get close due to the anti landing craft obstacles so they were dropped off in the water and a number of the shorter men had to be helped on shore due to the water was over their head. He became an MP for the occupying force.

 

Very cool. Both of our dads in the same place on the other side of the world 80 years ago doing the same thing. Without the A-bomb drop they would have both been facing really bad odds of survival meaning we might have both missed all this Gator Country fun.

 

My wife's uncle, Jack Garrett, was on the USS St. Louis during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the first ship to make it out of the harbor during the battle. He passed away this year at the age of 104. He participated in the honor guard for veterans' funerals until he was about 100. At the end, he had to use a chair while firing the gun. The link below is to a nice article written about him back in 2013.

Pearl Harbor survivor recalls ‘Lucky Lou’

 

I really want to make this trip happen.

 

My Father had also just finished the semester at UF. He came home and enlisted in the Marines. After coming out of Paris Island as the number 1 recruit he was sent to Marine Air Corp School at Cherry Point NC. He proposed to my Mother via a telegram and she got on a train in Cleveland Ohio and came to New Bern NC where they were married. He was sent to the South Pacific where he. flew 52 missions in a B25 Mitchell. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Cross, The Bronze Star and 2 Purple Hearts. I was truly Blessed to call this Man Daddy.

 

WOW! I can't imagine

I remember my Mom adamantly telling me we had to drop the 2 A bombs becuase so MANY American boys or young men would have died trying to invade Japan. Stop and think about that. Even then we had to drop a 2nd A bomb to get them to surrender which is crazy to me.