79 Years Ago

Lewkat

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey, USA
It is difficult for me to think that I was only 8 yrs. old on the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It seems like yesterday as I vividly recall exactly what I was doing at the time. We'd just finished Sunday dinner and I was outside playing when my dad came out and told me to get into the house right away. Of course, I wasn't going quietly and asked him why. He told me that we were at war. Now, this is the East Coast and I was aware of the war in Europe, so I looked around me and asked him where, as all was quiet on the home front. When he told me about what had happened, I, naturally, had never heard of Pearl Harbor. I couldn't understand why we would be at war since I thought Hawaii was a foreign country. Well, daddy-o proceeded to open our atlas and gave me a geography lesson I'd never forget. And, then Hitler declared war on us and the rest is history. What a sad history it is too. Such evil people, even among our allies.47572162_10205351876032635_8341750611175276544_n.jpg
 

My mum was also only 8 years old Lois... very scary for you all as children. Of course this country had been at war for over 2 years by the time Pearl Harbour was bombed, and my mother had been evacuated from her orphanage in the city to a farm in the countryside, so she didn't see or hear much about the war by then
 
Last edited:
It is a very sobering place to visit.
You feel like you are at a funeral when you visit the site ... and oil bubbling to the surface to this very day.
iu
 

It is difficult for me to think that I was only 8 yrs. old on the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It seems like yesterday as I vividly recall exactly what I was doing at the time. We'd just finished Sunday dinner and I was outside playing when my dad came out and told me to get into the house right away. Of course, I wasn't going quietly and asked him why. He told me that we were at war. Now, this is the East Coast and I was aware of the war in Europe, so I looked around me and asked him where, as all was quiet on the home front. When he told me about what had happened, I, naturally, had never heard of Pearl Harbor. I couldn't understand why we would be at war since I thought Hawaii was a foreign country. Well, daddy-o proceeded to open our atlas and gave me a geography lesson I'd never forget. And, then Hitler declared war on us and the rest is history. What a sad history it is too. Such evil people, even among our allies.View attachment 137871
We have evil people among us even today. They’re called politicians.

If you have ever been to Pearl Harbor, you may have noticed an eerie calm. The whole area is almost like a sacred shrine. It’s also very beautiful out there.
 
Last edited:
The first time I was stationed in Hawaii (1966 to 1969), I worked down in the shipyard in the vicinity of the old hospital. Several of the old abandoned buildings including the hospital still had bullet holes from that battle. It gave me a very eerie feeling to see that every day.

We stored a lot of our older equipment inside a huge old warehouse that was still functional. It was full of old equipment left over from WWII and before. It was dark and spooky in there, but I spent some time looking over some of that old stuff that had been pulled off various ships for decades. Most of it was electronic equipment that would never be used again and needed to be sent to salvage for the metal.

All those old building had been torn down by the time I was stationed there again in 1981 to 1985.

In 1983, I was honored to give the Oath of Enlistment to my son on the USS Arizona. The mere sight of it is very sobering. My boss had a clear view of it from his window on the fourth floor of the Pacific Fleet Commander's Headquarters. When I went to morning meetings in his office, I always got there early so I could periodically get a glimpse of that ship.
 
My mum was also only 8 years old Lois... very scary for you all as children. Of course this country had been at war for over 2 years by the time Pearl Harbour was bombed, and my mother had been evacuated from her orphanage in the city to a farm in the countryside, so she didn't see or hear much about the war by then
London was being blitzed to death by the Nazis at that time, Holly, but Churchill breathed a sigh of relief knowing we'd now be in it for sure.
 
London was being blitzed to death by the Nazis at that time, Holly, but Churchill breathed a sigh of relief knowing we'd now be in it for sure.
my mum wasn't in London Lois, she was in Scotland growing up... .... however hard the Germans hit London..or Coventry or Scotland (the most badly hit areas of the UK), it's been proven that the British hit them back twice as hard... German cities were razed to the ground.... I hope we never see the like of it ever in my lifetime
 
my mum wasn't in London Lois, she was in Scotland growing up... .... however hard the Germans hit London..or Coventry or Scotland (the most badly hit areas of the UK), it's been proven that the British hit them back twice as hard... German cities were razed to the ground.... I hope we never see the like of it ever in my lifetime
I have an entire library about WWII and how the UK took it and with the aid of some really smashingly good pilots from Poland, showed the RAF how to outwit the Luftwaffe with utter superiority in strategy, if not numbers. Amazing.
 
It is difficult for me to think that I was only 8 yrs. old on the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It seems like yesterday as I vividly recall exactly what I was doing at the time. We'd just finished Sunday dinner and I was outside playing when my dad came out and told me to get into the house right away. Of course, I wasn't going quietly and asked him why. He told me that we were at war. Now, this is the East Coast and I was aware of the war in Europe, so I looked around me and asked him where, as all was quiet on the home front. When he told me about what had happened, I, naturally, had never heard of Pearl Harbor. I couldn't understand why we would be at war since I thought Hawaii was a foreign country. Well, daddy-o proceeded to open our atlas and gave me a geography lesson I'd never forget. And, then Hitler declared war on us and the rest is history. What a sad history it is too. Such evil people, even among our allies.View attachment 137871
That was an interesting memory, Lewkat. And how lucky you were to have a Dad who took the time to explain it to you.
 
That was an interesting memory, Lewkat. And how lucky you were to have a Dad who took the time to explain it to you.
Yes, I was. He drilled it into me that war was such a useless endeavor with men shooting each other every minute of the day for no other purpose than being shot themselves. Humans are absolutely clueless as to how to settle differences in an intelligent manner. Of course the nut cases cannot be dealt with reasonably.
 
Fortunately, I wasn't born yet, but I do remember my Dad talking about it when I was growing up. He didn't have to go into the service because where he was working at the time made equipment for the Armed forces. I do remember the Korean war because my older brother was drafted and I remember how worried my parents were at the time.
 

Back
Top