A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center.
Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue
An iconic photo that has been published countless times in relation to the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks may not be all that it's cracked up to be. MSNBC has apparently gotten to the bottom of a photo depicted a group of women firefighters at Pearl Harbor.
Lowe said the wartime photo was certainly not taken on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Imperial Japanese Navy shocked the United States into joining World War II. On that Sunday morning she was headed to church when the bombing started, and she went ahead anyway because she wasn't sure what else to do. But she and her friends from the Dole pineapple factory did soon go to work as civilian workers at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and one of their duties was to fight fires. She said the photo was probably taken at a training exercise during the war. She said she had no idea that her photo was in history books.
So the bottom line: These women were female firefighters at Pearl Harbor, the place. To that extent the photo is authentic. But they weren't fighting a fire when this photograph was taken, and they weren't fighting any fires on Dec. 7, the day we remember every year on Pearl Harbor Day. In addition to Lowe's account, there is strong documentary evidence that this is a Navy publicity photo taken to showcase the roles of women during the war.
Today marks the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the US naval installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
It was a day that will live in infamy.
Sadly, many of those who lived through, and fought at Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning, are no longer with us. The number of survivors of that day grows smaller by the day. Four years ago, a new memorial to the USS Oklahoma victims was dedicated. After the Arizona and the loss of 1,177 of the 1,400 sailors and Marines on board when Japanese bombs tore apart the ship's forward magazine, the Oklahoma lost 429 sailors and Marines — the second greatest loss of life among any of the battleships in Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor remains to this day a nexus of conspiracy theories. Just as there are now 9/11 conspiracy theorists, people considered that there were those in the US government, including President Roosevelt, who knew of the impending attacks and did nothing because he wanted to bring the US into the war. What gets forgotten is that Pearl Harbor was just one of a series of Japanese attacks planned on the same day and within two weeks of Pearl Harbor as part of a coordinated effort to eliminate British and American naval and military forces throughout the Pacific and Asian theater so that Japan could have unimpeded sources of raw materials and access.
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway.
December 8, 1941 - U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Japanese land near Singapore and enter Thailand.
December 9, 1941 - China declares war on Japan.
December 10, 1941 - Japanese invade the Philippines and also seize Guam.
December 11, 1941 - Japanese invade Burma.
December 15, 1941 - First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
December 16, 1941 - Japanese invade British Borneo.
December 18, 1941 - Japanese invade Hong Kong.
December 22, 1941 - Japanese invade Luzon in the Philippines.So, within two weeks of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese attacked everywhere from Borneo and Hong Kong to Mayasia, Midway, Thailand, Borneo, Burma and the Philippines.
That's not the sign of a nation that is looking to avoid war, but one that was intent upon carrying out its plans regardless of what the US did. The range of targets was designed to take the Pacific in one fell swoop and to knock the Allies off kilter at a time when the British and Soviets were focused on the European theater and the US wasn't even in the war - they were still technically neutral in the conflict in Europe.
Moreover, Japan had been at war with China since 1937 and that conflict was among the most brutal in Japan's war of aggression. Japan sought to confront the US on Japan's terms - Pearl Harbor was the time and place of Japan's choosing to eliminate and/or seriously degrade the US military capabilities. Japan may have seriously bloodied US forces at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day, but the Japanese forces did not hit the US aircraft carriers and didn't even touch the US military industrial complex that would soon produce more war material than Japan could ever conceive. Within a few short years, the US would not only replace the aged battleships that were damaged or destroyed at Pearl Harbor, but build more than a dozen new Essex class aircraft carriers, dozens of light aircraft carriers, tens of thousands of aircraft, thousands of ships of all types, and train personnel to operate them all.
Pearl Harbor awakened a slumbering giant. The end result was that Japan would see the extent of its military power and capabilities just a few months more before the US began pushing its way to the Japanese home islands.
Legalbgl posted photos of his trip to Pearl Harbor a few years back, and they're poignant in that they show how peaceful and placid the harbor is - much like the hours immediately preceding the attacks when the bolt from the blue brought war to US shores.
As Lawhawk posted, today is the 67th Anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I had the privilege to visit Pearl Harbor on my honeymoon a few years back. I also have a personal connection to the U.S.S. Arizona, as my grandfather worked on that ship when it was in the Brooklyn Navy Yard before the war. Attached are some photos of the memorial.
This is a picture as your approaching the Memorial. The white flotillas to the left and right of the Memorial are markers to the other ships that were sunk and not lifted on that day.
Ships like the U.S.S. Vestal (above) and the U.S.S. Nevade (below). Below is the entrance to the Memorial, followed by the dedication plaque.
The following picture shows flower pedals available to throw over board as a memorial. The flowers are seen floating on the oil slicks still rising from the sunken ship. The legend is that the oil will continue to flow until all survivors of the U.S.S. Arizona have passed on.
Moving inside the memorial, the names of all those who died on the U.S.S. Arizona are listed. The second picture shows the names of those people who survived and have since departed. Anyone who served on the Arizona that day can choose to have their ashes buried in the harbor. U.S. Navy divers will bury the ashes among the wreck. Lastly, it should be noted that in addition to the Memorial, there are several other ships on display for tours. One of them, the U.S.S. Missouri (the Mighty Mo) is of particular historical significance. The Mighty Mo is the where the surrender agreement between the Allies and Japan was signed. We took the Master Chief's tour, given by a retired Master Chief, who actually served on the Mo. What a ship!
Overall, the Memorial is a statement of understatement, and that is what makes it so powerful. If you have a chance to visit it I highly recommend it. I must say that even Mrs. Legalbgl, who is not a history buff, found it fascinating.
Today marks the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the US naval installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
It was a day that will live in infamy.
Sadly, many of those who lived through, and fought at Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning, are no longer with us. The number of survivors of that day grows smaller by the day. Last year, a new memorial to the USS Oklahoma victims was dedicated. After the Arizona and the loss of 1,177 of the 1,400 sailors and Marines on board when Japanese bombs tore apart the ship's forward magazine, the Oklahoma lost 429 sailors and Marines — the second greatest loss of life among any of the battleships in Pearl Harbor.
This year's commemorations at Pearl Harbor are focused not on the attacks per se, but on the US response to the attacks, including honoring those who participated in the Doolittle Raid on Japan four months after Pearl Harbor and the day that will live in infamy.
One of the most important things to remember about the attacks from a military and strategic perspective is that until that point, battleships were considered the dominant ship on the high seas. After Pearl Harbor, the primacy of the aircraft carrier was established and now provides the most visible and tangible means by which the US can project power around the world. A carrier battle group contains more firepower than most nations, and the US has 11 carriers in active service. Pearl Harbor changed the way that navies operate the world over.
UPDATE: Charles at LGF points out there are still those who believe that the US is somehow at fault for the Pearl Harbor attacks and that if the US was more considerate of Japanese intentions the war could have been avoided. It's total nonsense.
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway. December 8, 1941 - U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Japanese land near Singapore and enter Thailand. December 9, 1941 - China declares war on Japan. December 10, 1941 - Japanese invade the Philippines and also seize Guam. December 11, 1941 - Japanese invade Burma. December 15, 1941 - First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine. December 16, 1941 - Japanese invade British Borneo. December 18, 1941 - Japanese invade Hong Kong. December 22, 1941 - Japanese invade Luzon in the Philippines.So, within two weeks of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese attacked everywhere from Borneo and Hong Kong to Mayasia, Midway, Thailand, Borneo, Burma and the Philippines.
That's not the sign of a nation that is looking to avoid war, but one that was intent upon carrying out its plans regardless of what the US did. The range of targets was designed to take the Pacific in one fell swoop and to knock the Allies off kilter at a time when they were focused on the European theater.
Also keep in mind that the Japanese had been waging war in China since 1937. Japan was looking for primacy in the Pacific, and the US stood in its way. Sooner or later, Japan would have to confront the US, and the Japanese hoped to take the US Navy out of the equation in one fell swoop.
On this day in 1941, the Japanese navy attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.
It was a day that will live in infamy.
Sadly, many of those who lived through, and fought at Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning, are no longer with us. The number of survivors of that day grows smaller by the day, but this year a new memorial to the USS Oklahoma victims will be dedicated. After the Arizona and the loss of 1,177 of the 1,400 sailors and Marines on board when Japanese bombs tore apart the ship's forward magazine, the Oklahoma lost 429 sailors and Marines — the second greatest loss of life among any of the battleships in Pearl Harbor.
