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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Francis was not the only one. I've tried to find out if they worked together in the same turret, or if they were called to heroism with no knowledge of what the other was doing.
Seaman First Class James Ward citation:
"The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Seaman First Class James Richard Ward, United States Navy, for conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. When it was seen that the USS OKLAHOMA (BB-37) was going to capsize and the order was given to abandon ship, Seaman First Class Ward remained in a turret holding a flashlight so the remainder of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life."
I'm not sure of the exact number, but one of these big turrets was crewed by about 40 men. A fair number of lives to save.
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Robb
Social climber
Cat Box
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Bump. Never forget.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Bump. Never forget.
Definitely. Ain’t never gonna buy a Japanese car neither,
but I do keep Nikon in business.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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No such thing as a Japanese car any more.
Components are made all over the place now.
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dirtbag
climber
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Read earlier that this will be the first anniversary event without an Arizona survivor attending. Only five (all in their mid 90s) are still alive.
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Remember Pearl Harbor? Sh#t, we can't even remember yesterday...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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That may be true,TV, but the profits go there.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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First time ever no survivors of the Arizona present at the Arizona.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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I was ten years old, and remember the news coverage very well. For some possibly child-racist reason, i thought we would beat the Japanese in short order. But it scared hell out of me when Germany got into it.
Really interesting reading back and remembering the civilian war effort - ration stamps for practically everything, military aircraft (like P39s) buzzing the town and making "strafing runs" on convoys coming through town, my dad doing his stint on top of Mt. St Helena watching for enemy aircraft, drives for tin cans, rubber, even bacon grease. And I remember the goat my dad got and tethered out for a while. I thought he was a pet. What a shock when he turned up on the table!
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john hansen
climber
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My father was scheduled to join the navy on Dec 8 1941.
He had just turned 17 on Dec 5 and had signed up for a "kiddie cruise" where your parents could let you join a year early.
After Pearl Harbor happened he did not get inducted until the 18th.
Spent time on the mine layer Gambol around Guadalcanal , where they sank a Japanese Submarine with depth charges and laid minefields that got a few other Japanese vessels . He also served on the escort carrier Rudyard Bay at Iwo Jima and Okinowa, and survived the infamous Halsey typhoon where 4 destroyers and a cruiser went down.
He wrote a book about his time in the service, and it was interesting that when he mustered out of the navy in October 45 after being in combat zones for almost 2/3 of the time for 4 years , he was still not 21 years old.
I am glad he wrote his stories down for his children to read and would like to see it published some day.
I live in Hawaii and know a few people well who witnessed it. They are in their 90's now.
War is hell.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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John Toland, one of America's most respected historians, has written a shocking and revealing account of the events surrounding Pearl Harbor, uncovering evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew about the planned Japanese attack but remained silent so that the U.S. would be drawn into the war. Even more shocking was the conspiracy afterwards to cover up the facts and find scapegoats for the greatest disaster in U.S. miltary history.
I can hear that discussion taking place:
Let's start a war with Japan.
I have a great idea! To start the war, let's let them sink the Pacific Fleet!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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In a twisted sort of way it may have been the best thing for us to lose those old battle wagons. Other than the Arizona, they were all berthed with skeleton crews. Not one of them could have taken on one of the new Japanese battle ships. If we had put Oklahoma to sea against Yamato, Oklahoma would have been sunk before the Japanese ship was in range of her guns, with the loss of her entire crew of 1,400.
The Japanese were very good at Naval artillery. Ask the Russians about 1939.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Kris, I think you mean 1905 - the Battle of Tsushima.
The Japs did pitch a shutout. Woulda been a no-hitter but they lost 3 torpedo boats.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Ks,
as I recall most of those ships were salvaged.
How come you call it a "Congressional" Medal of Honor?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Kris, I think you mean 1905 - the Battle of Tsushima.
You could be right, I was going off the top of my head. Didn't they give 'em a whipping in '39?
Toker, I don't understand your question about the CMH. Help me out with that.
Edit: They salvaged the Oklahoma but it sank while being towed to San Francisco to be scrapped. Dunno about the others.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Its just a Medal of Honor, congress has nothing to do with it.
Common misexpression.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Interesting. There's a Congressional Medal of Honor Society, but they call it the Medal of Honor. Who knew?
"Presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress"
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The Russian fleet was never rebuilt. The Russian navy is still a joke.
We used to watch their at-sea re-fueling attempts and laugh ourselves silly.
Isoroku Yamamoto, the future Japanese admiral who would go on to plan the attack on Pearl Harbor and command the Imperial Japanese Navy through much of the Second World War, served as a junior officer (aboard Nisshin) during the battle and was wounded by Russian gunfire.
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