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My dad and uncle were both at Pearl Harbor, but after and not during the attack. During the attack my uncle was on the Enterprise and out to sea returning to Pearl from Wake Island. Dad was in the States at the Naval Air Station in K Falls and was eventually sent with a replacement squadron to Ford Island.
I had a cousin that somehow miraculously survived the USS Arizona. He was below decks trying to get some machine guns and ammo up on deck and the next thing he knew, he was in the water. To the day he died he had absolutely no idea how he got from below decks to floating in the water with a broken leg and broken arm.

Dad was an air crewman as well as bomb site technician. He never talked about what happened other than to say he was on a flight and something went terribly wrong. His pilot was an fairly new Ensign and they just barely made it back. That was the last flight of the Ensign. Dad ended up getting sent back state side to the Naval Air Station at Klamath Falls where he finished out the war, mostly working on the Norton Bomb site and going on flights for calibration and testing.

30 years later I ended up at NAS Barbers Point and spent a tremendous amount of time at Pearl Harbor and Ford Island. It was amazing to see that bullet holes and bomb craters had been deliberately preserved along with a few aircraft remnants. The Arizona was still leaking oil and you had no problem seeing the rainbow sheen on the water.

Little known and rarely, if ever mentioned, is the USS Utah just around the point on Ford Island from the Arizona. She was hit by at least two bombs and turned turtle and still at Pearl harbor. We could take a boat and sail around her getting an up close and personal look at her back in those days. I think it was like 64 people that died on her on December 7th, 1941. About the time I got sent to Barbers Point, they opened a memorial observation platform for her as well.

The old and abandoned concrete pill boxes were all over the place. We had a number of them at Barbers Point and along the old ammo train bed out to Ka‘ena Point.
At Barbers Point was also the old MCAS Ewa Beach. The old runways (reserved then for RC Airplane, Car and Rocket Clubs) and the half shell hangers (revetments) for the aircraft were still there. (They were used as a movie prop in Tora Tora Tora. We used some of them as stables for the Navy Rodeo Club and Horse rentals...…..

 

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), that had ferried some USMC fighter planes to Wake Island, returned to Pearl Harbor several hours after the attack ended.

When Admiral Halsey, the commander of the task force saw the devastation, he said "When we get through with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in hell!"

The USS Utah (BB-31) was formerly a Florida Class battleship. In 1931, she was demilitarized and converted to a target ship, her decks were covered with heavy wooden timbers.

Several months before the attack, the Utah was at Mare Island where she was converted to a gunnery training ship.

The timbers remained and when she returned to Pearl Harbor, was moored where the Enterprise or carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) usually was moored.

The Japanese pilots assumed this was a carrier, bombed and torpedoed her, she quickly rolled over.

At some point, probably in 1943, she was partially righted, but then it was decided to leave her in situ.

There's no way a civilian can visit the Utah today. Access is thru a housing project, so unless you have military ID or know someone that does, you're SOL

There were commercial boat tours of the harbor, but that ended after 9/11.

"Yesterday, December 7th 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

-FDR's first sentence of his speech asking Congress that war be declared, on Monday December 8th 1941.

 

Yep, they weren't too far out of Pearl on the Enterprise. It's an amazing coincidence that a storm caused roughly a 24 hour delay that saved the Enterprise's bacon. They sunk a Jap Sub a on Dec. 10 too.

Another amazing place I got to spend time was on Midway Island. You ought to see my Super 8 Movies of the Goony Birds.
Deactivated the same year my first Squadron, VP-6 was, 1993. Our battle stars and flag have been retired.
Listed here...http://www.vpnavy.com/vp6_shipmates.html

 

Thank you for posting this. On the 'other site' there isn't a peep. No peep on FTF either, but that site is just about dead from the neck up.

There are two threads on 'The Day of Infamy' on the Studebaker Drivers Club forum. I typed something in both of them.

As you can probably guess, I'm a Pearl Harbor Attack historian, been reading about it since the early 1950's, have been there 6 times and have dozens of books on the topic.

Commander Rochefort to Admiral Nimitz: "AF is Midway!"

 

My father served in WW2. He never talked about it . Only one story about a small island he was on as a radio operator. ... He passed in 98 he was 78 years old.

 

I don't think it's just the other site. I remember when this was a much bigger deal. Now it's barely a passing mention on the news if it's even mentioned at all. I guess since most of the ones there are all gone now, and it happened before facebook and twitter, then it's not as important as what the kardashians did this afternoon.

 

Evan, Brown Falcon, posted a Memorial in the Oregon Chapter "over there".

I went to the Vets Section 'over there', saw that someone was trying to turn it into a Political Uprising that has all but killed that forum. Seems to be just the one poster in the Vets section now, talking to himself with no indication of being a vet(?), so I just left it alone with no interest in hearing about....

 

Oddly enough, after all the poop that went down in 2018, it came right to the very last day before my home was secure

I had a deadline of THAT DAY at midnight to acquire home insurance after my home was badly reported by an investigator. I ate Ramen noodles and eggs all that year - but it wasn't enough

The roof I could do, but not the siding and soffet, and it looked like I was about to lose everything anyway.....

The VA rep in my town contacted Home Depot and it turned out they had a Veterans Assistance Program (likely not only tax deductible but also a great training aid) and they DONATED all of the building materials for a crew of church people and Veterans to come out to my home - which they did..

But the investigators they said were bogged down, and could not get to me after all the rebuilding I did, which would have left me without homeowners insurance, and ultimately a real bad deal...

December 7th, 2018 is coincidental.
It was they day my coverage would have been gone...


~They okayed the local agent to come out and shoot pics 2 days before, but at the last minute it all had to be connected...


I will never forget 1941, or 2018 either

But I won

 

Dumb question, but why is there not a thread on this with pictures? We're kinda into pictures here.

 

I'll give you some before and afters, how about that?

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That first image was in 2012 and I found it on google street view, second 2015, there's more around elsewhere including a thread or part of one in the General discussion "How was your frigging day?" with other back fill

Last year I almost lost it completely. I could see no good way I was going to come out of it

(if anyone wondered why I was going so crazy)

I honestly thought I was going to lose all except what I could stuff in a Festiva and go (somewhere?) with
And I would NEVER abandon 'Woola'


* Third image was taken from the same approximate angle as the first
* I counted the tree stumps, from sapling to full grown, there are seventy of them I still must remove


True statement that - I couldn't believe it until I walked around and began looking for them all

One last, and my favorite I think ~

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That last was taken just before we buttoned it all up.

The significance of December 7 in this, is that it was the day the insurance company was going to drop me - and it came right down to the wire....

NO Insurance
NO Mortgage

"You LOSE! You win nothing, good day sir..."
~W. Wonka


On December 6th, I still had to play a little more "Telephone Tag" because the Mortgage Company did not yet know ALLSTATE had capitulated and agreed that we did a good job - they wanted to go insurance shopping, and I connected the dots for them.

It came that close to disaster after all that work


But it was all I wanted for Christmas AND my birthday (December 12th I turned 60)
~ any other outcome would have been unacceptable, but I was prepared to hit the road anyway


Now at last maybe I can build some savings
(once again)

 

I have not mentioned medical issues in all of this, and I need to get on top of that next. But at least THAT crisis is over with.

~Wolf out


* Y'do what Y'can...

 

And I thought lowes was impressive with their little veterans only parking spaces up near the front. Guess I need to shop some more at Home Depot. They both offer veteran discounts

 

It might depend on the store or region Chris. 2 years ago we went to the Home Depot in Salem to set up an appointment to get options and estimates for a roof job on our house. They wouldn't give us a Military Discount unless I could show Military/VA SC disability rating. O.K. covered that one. Set up an appointment for them to come out to the house. Someone from Home Depot called 2 days ahead and confirmed the appointment. Came and went with no Home Depot. Called the number I had and never got a call back. A week after the estimator no show, Home Depot Customer Service called and wanted to do a Customer Satisfaction Survey on the appointment we (didn't) have.

But good on Home Depot in Dutch's home town.

The Lowe's nearest to me has the Veteran parking right across the drive way from the Exit/Entrance doors and a Vendors Trailer that has the best Ruben Sandwiches that I think I have ever had.

 

Lowes here treats vets better.
Regular customers too.