So what is today?

[Fred3]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:01am

So what is today?




Not the day of the week, but the date…




OK… its December seventh….. so that means?




Give up?




Think 63 years ago…..




Today is the 63rd anniversary of the Attack on U.S. Forces at Pearl Harbor.




No one that I’ve asked (under the age of 40) in the past two days has answered this question accurately.



So do we think that 60 years from now everyone will have forgotten about 9/11?

[insomniak]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:04am

I'm ashamed to say I can be added to that list of kids who didn't know. I hope it doesn't happen with 9/11, both of those events are too important to just be shoved aside. My sympathies to the families of those who lost loved ones in both attacks.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:05am

PERSONNEL KILLED
Navy 2001
Marine Corps 109
Army 231
Civilian 54


PERSONNEL WOUNDED
Navy 710
Marine Corps 69
Army 364
Civilian 35


SHIPS
Sunk or beached 12
Damaged 9


AIRCRAFT
Destroyed 164
Damaged 159



My visit to the Memorial was one of the most moving experiences of my life.

In Rememberance.

[insomniak]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:07am

*silence*

We're all luckier to be here than we think. Thank you to those who sacrificed themselves so that we could live and sorry to those who were senselessy killed.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:10am

I doubt it will ever happen with 9/11. (How can it when it's being shoved down your throat every day by the media and the political machine that controls it?) And if Pearl Harbor was remembered as 12/7, I doubt anyone would forget it either.

[Fred3]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:14am

Check out http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm

It is the official US Navy site and it includes a lot of official reports on the day including the memoranda from the (surviving highest ranking) commanding officers of the ships that were lost to the Commander Pacific Fleet. These memos include descriptions of heroic act (many of which resulted in Medals of Honor) as well minute-by-minute accounts.

My personal favorite is one account from the surviving commander of the Nevada when he describes how one of the Navada's five inch guns fired on a torpedo bomber and actually hit the torpedo while still on the plane and "blew the attacker to bits"

There is also some oral histories including one from a Navy Nurse on Ford Island (the island that separates the harbor from the ocean.

[Fred3]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:15am

"I doubt it will ever happen with 9/11. (How can it when it's being shoved down your throat every day by the media and the political machine that controls it?) And if Pearl Harbor was remembered as 12/7, I doubt anyone would forget it either."

I sure people would've said that in 1944. Gotta take it in context.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:15am

I find it sad that I knew that today was the Pearl Harbour Anniversary, a seventeen year old Australian boy, and so few Americans did/do.
The loss of life caused by any war is reason for a moments silence.
At every ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand, these words are uttered by all that commemorate:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
LEST WE FORGET

It is an extract from Binyon's Ode For The Fallen, and its words embody the deep sense of loss and mourning a country feels in the aftermaths of war.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:18am

I knew what today was, but I'm over 40.

The woman I was with on September 11th (I was in Albany at a conference) was actually at Pearl Harbor. She was a toddler. She remembers her mother throwing herself on top of her tiny body to protect her.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:20am

The survivors stories posted on the official Pearl Harbor website are so moving.

Spend a moment or two there today. You will be richer for it.

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:25am

Addy, i visited the Memorial twice in my early 20s... to look up at all those names on the wall, and to know that i was suspended over the grave of over 1000 of them (never recovered, mind you), moved me to tears both times...

never forget!!!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 9:33am

joeyjoe - I was last there on Veteran's Day in 2001. A VERY short time after the attacks on 9/11, and it was one of the most emotional experiences of my life.

Because it was Veteran's Day there were a number of surivors telling their stories. And because we were all still reeling from 9/11 it had a very REAL and profound effect on us.

They have a program where you can honor a loved one with an official flag from the Memorial. A flag is flown on the Arizona, and then folded with propery military honors and presented with a certificate stating the date and time and the name of the person it was flown for. I honored my father, a Navy veteran, with one. He was moved to tears.

[megannn33]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 11:26am

last year in my health class my teacher asked this and i seemed the be the only one that knew. i was very surprised, but i don't think it will ever be forgotten all together. as long as we have wonderful history teachers to teach the children inmportant events such as Pearl Harbor that happened in our past, the even will never be forgotten.

and don't worry, i didn't forget this year and i'm 15. Updated On: 12/7/04 at 11:26 AM

[Plum]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 11:34am

Anniversaries are only remembered if someone has an interest in remembering them. Lots of disasters and dates that were considered vitally important 100 years ago are barely-remembered historical footnotes now.

On the one hand, I hate how some people are disrespectful of history and refuse to learn from it. But on the other hand, we can't live in the past. Maybe it's for the best that eventually memories fade.

[laactress]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 11:46am

I knew what today was. I too have visited the memorial and will never be the same from it. I have never had an experience like that in my life.

I will always remember!

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 7:34pm

I went to the Memorial in Honolulu when I was a child. I will never forget standing on the memorial that was built over the USS Arizona and watching oil seep to the surface of the water. It left a lasting impression in my mind.

[eponine88]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 8:04pm

I'm 16, and I too knew that it was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but to my surprise, no one else in my history class did. I may just think more about these things being that my dad was killed on September 11th, but I still think that it is a shame that most teens I know could care less about stuff like this. They look at it as if it were over and done with, therefore it no longer has any significance. Many people I know look only at the facts and figures, but think nothing of the people behind them....

[BEKA531]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 8:06pm

i'm 15, and i knew that it was the anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. however, i didn't know what number (63) but i was close enough.

*pats on back*