The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked

[953 nut 55,194]

Excerpts from "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked.

As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?" Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.

Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?"

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?" Nimitz explained:

Mistake number one:
The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave.

If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

Mistake number two:
When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired.

As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three;
Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make, God was taking care of America.

 

Any way you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.

 

Our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST, he watched over us in 1941 and continues to do so today.


CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY

[WHX?? 48,815]

Day early Richard but we get it... 

Big memorial at the VFW tomorrow. They wanted us to wear our uniforms. I think I grew abit and have more than fat fingers now ... 

[WHX?? 48,815]

Still my favorite...

Isoroku Yamamoto was supposed to have said, “I would never invade America, there is a gun behind every blade of grass.” 

[TonyToro Jr. 1,415]

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,273]

Very sobering to visit the memorial, my aunt was living in Manoa Valley and recalled that day.

[Pullstart 62,838]

May we never forget, the many sacrifices our countrymen and women have made for our freedom.. 

[oliver2-44 9,739]

48 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

May we never forget, the many sacrifices our countrymen and women have made for our freedom.. 

 

While we rightfully think about those in the military, all made great sacrifices. Back at home many everyday things ie sugar, flour, gas, rubber , etc were rationed to supply those items to the military effort. 
A group that also deserves recognition is the Merchant Marines.  They transported ammunition, equipment and food for the military. They actually lost more ships than the military. 

We don’t think about farmers being vital to military efforts. But with European soil under fire, American farmers fed the military and much of Europe. Farmers wives and daughters took over for the fathers and sons who were away at war.  
 

All Americans truly pitched in to bring peace. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

 

Perhaps there are more important things - like this - that should be highlighted in our media... very few papers / sites indeed will note today, or if they do, it will be to suggest a problem with honoring the anniversary due to some nonsense...

 

Thank you @953 nut... history and truth matter...

 

[953 nut 55,194]

10 hours ago, WHX?? said:

Day early Richard

Not really, for our European members who's ancestors suffered seven years of battle it was already the seventh at the time this was posted.

[AMC RULES 37,130]

RIP

[Pullstart 62,838]

7 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Merchant Marines.

We recently watched The Greatest Beer Run Ever.  Chickee Donahue was just that, in Vietnam.  Quite the movie there.

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

1 hour ago, AMC RULES said:

RIP

What vessel ?… Arizona ?

Edited December 7, 2022 by Horse Newbie

[rjg854 11,360]

Thank you Richard for posting that, I do believe that is the first time I've ever heard of that event.

[slim67 2,735]

And Admiral Halsey was quoted as saying “ when we’re done with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell!”

[The Freightliner Guy 1,327]

Okay some of you may heard of My great grandpa Reese the one who brang wheel horse into my familys lives. Reese was shipped out from the U.S on December 5th, Aboard the USAT Etolin. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the ship turned around and sailed back to the U.S. He related to family members that he only realized the ship was turning around on the 7th, because of the change in the ship's wake. The flags on the sides of the ship were painted over and there were no lights or smoking on deck during the return trip. When reaching the San Francisco harbor on December 10th the pilot said, We didn't expect to see you guys again, we thought you were on the bottom. The pilot raised a newspaper showing the headlines regarding pearl harbor which was the first mention of the attack to the enlisted men. Reese like others who served never liked speaking of his service during WW2. Reese passed away on November 11th 2003 his and all others service will always be remembered and i am grateful for all the service all of the  members that helped fight for our country.

Kollin

Edited December 7, 2022 by The Freightliner Guy

[953 nut 55,194]

6 hours ago, slim67 said:

Japanese language will only be spoken in Hel

I've heard this saying before as well as the German language. The vast majority of the people of Japan and Germany did not want to go to war and suffered needless consequences as a result of a few ruthless power hungry  people. The people who caused this have a special place in Hell, not the people who suffered because of them.         

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,330]

I was surprised to turn on the tv and not see a bunch of Pearl Harbor movies today. It is sad the stuff that is on but very little to nothing to honor those lost that day….

[slim67 2,735]

1 hour ago, 953 nut said:

I've heard this saying before as well as the German language. The vast majority of the people of Japan and Germany did not want to go to war and suffered needless consequences as a result of a few ruthless power hungry  people. The people who caused this have a special place in Hell, not the people who suffered because of them.         

That was then when those words were spoken and at the time probably justified. Japan now is far from imperial Japan. I’m not sure I can agree with you on those countries not wanting a war at the time.

[D_Mac 8,607]

I have our local newspaper from the day after. Remember newspapers?. Anyways its clear that on Dec 8th all the information on the attack wasnt even known yet. The accounts and information were underestimated. Todays world we cant believe what we hear or see in the news for different reasons.