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Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941
I was seven when Pearl Harbor happened, a little girl not knowing what all of this meant
The below writings are not mine, the beginning ones, the rest are my observations 75 years later.
USS Arizona
Almost half of those who died at Pearl Harbor were aboard the USS Arizona. In all, 1,177 officers and crewmen died when the Arizona was bombed. The ship sank and, along with the USS Utah, were the only two ships not salvaged after the attack. In 1962, a memorial over the wreck was dedicated. The Arizona remains at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, leaking out small drops of oil which spread into the water above. Experts said the Arizona is near collapse due to the damage from the attack and decades at the bottom of the sea.
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Brothers in arms
There were 37 pairs or trios of brothers on the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. Of the 77 men, 62 were killed and 23 sets of brothers died. Only one full set of brothers, Kenneth and Russell Warriner, survived the attack; Kenneth saved by a trip to San Diego for flight training and Russell, wounded in the attacks, but able to recover. The ship's only father-and-son-pair, Thomas Augusta Free and his son William Thomas Free, were killed in action.
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Three Alabama brothers, Thomas, Charles and Melvin Murdock of DeKalb County, were aboard the USS Arizona. Only Thomas survived, passing away in 1979 at age 71.
Last USS Arizona officer died this year
Navy Ensign Joe Langdell, the last surviving officer of the USS Arizona, died in February of this year at age 100. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there are now only eight crewmen from the Arizona still living.
Langdell, like many others who survived the Arizona attack, is buried at the memorial. The USS Arizona Reunion Association allows for the cremated remains of any crew to be interred on the ship. To do so, divers swim with the urn and place it inside the barbette of gun turret No. 4.
Elvis and Pearl Harbor
The USS Arizona, along with the remains of more than 1,000 of its crew, are submerged in less than 40 feet of water at Pearl Harbor. In 1949, the Pacific War Memorial Commission was established to build a permanent memorial at the site but it wasn't until 1958 that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation to create a national memorial. The money for the memorial came from the private and public sector, including singer Elvis Presley. Presley, a veteran of the U.S. Army, performed a benefit concert that raised more than $50,000 - more than 10 percent of the monument's total cost. The monument was officially dedicated on May 30, 1962.
Tora, tora, tora!
Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese pilot who led the air attack on Pearl Harbor, is remembered for his famous phrase "Tora, tora, tora!" The phrase, which translates to "Tiger, tiger, tiger!" indicated that the attackers had caught the U.S. fleet completely off guard. The name was later used for a 1970 film detailing the attack.
Vintage photos from a Vietnam-era Veteran's Day parade
It was Hannuka 1941 and we were having a dinner to celebrate the first night of the holiday. Mom was cooking a fine dinner and we had one guest, Dad's oldest sister, Jenny who lived by herself. Mom always invited her for dinners, since she was residing in a small apartment, no telephone. She arrived after coming to our home via the streetcar.
We informed her of this and we all cried together thinking of the loss of lives and what meant war was going to mean to us.
Mom served the dinner and we listened on the radio, no televisions then yet. The president, Franklin Roosevelt said " today is a day which will live in infamy."
Life changed for us, there were food rationing, we had darkened shades in every room of the house and they had to be pulled down in case there was a bombing, our houses would be darkened. Dad was a captain in the neighborhood, patrolling if people were not abiding of the rules.
We lost a neighbor in the war and a cousin of Mom's, a captain in the Army. Their moms were devastated losing their children. They cried when they were informed.
War changed us and our living. We had food stamps, not to use for money, to use to buy rationed items
They rationed sugar, butter, bubble gum and other food or sweet items. Sugar was rationed, it was hard to bake a cake because you did not want to use up all your allowed sugar.
Dad was given the position of being the neighborhood watch person to make sure you had darkened shades under your regular shades to make sure if there was a bombing, they could not see your lit up house. He was called the captain of the blocks. Mom did not like him being out on the dark streets. He said it was his duty for the war. A cousin brought me a box of bubble gum, 100 pieces and I gave my brother 10 pieces. The rest for me to savor and eat one piece or two a week.
We went to Pearl Harbor in the seventies and we went aboard the USS Arizona where there were 2100 or more sailors entombed below when the ship was sunk. TShey put a cover over that area and we were able to walk on the floor and cry for the loss of lives from the sneak attack that December 7th 1941.
Today December 7th, we pause for the freedom we have and a little girl of seven will not ever forget that Hannuka night. The first night of the holiday, we light a candle and a top candle and every night we increase until we have nine candles, remember the holiday when a tyrant tried to shut us out.
The lights will always be lit and we will remember that sad Hannuka when our world stopped for the sadness of the day of Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.
Sometimes, we see the way we are, not the way it was.
Fairfax Station Patch
Elita Sohmer Clayman 75 years later than the seven year old kid