HarleyTechTalk

HI Folks!

Today is the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which secured American involvement in the Second World War.  The attack started at 0748 Hawaiian time, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, and was the most crushing surprise attack in United States history.  The United States lost 2,402 killed, and 1,282 wounded Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Civilians.  The US Fleet and military infrastructure for the Pacific were gutted â€" almost every ship in Pearl Harbor was at least damaged â€" including 4 battleships sunk, and 188 aircraft destroyed.

15 Medals of Honor were awarded for valor shown on that awful day. Today, one Pearl Harbor MOH recipient survives.  LT (Ret) John W. Finn, a Navy Chief Aircraft Ordnanceman at the time, set up a .50 machinegun on the tarmac of Kaneohe Naval Air Station. Despite being completely exposed and wounded numerous times, Finn returned enemy fire throughout the attack.  Afterwards, he received medical treatment and returned immediately to supervise the re-arming of the remaining USN aircraft.  At age 99, Finn is the oldest living MOH recipient, and the only survivor of the 15 Pearl Harbor recipients.   

Numerous other brave acts took place â€" USN Mess Steward, Doris Miller, received a Navy Cross for manning an anti-aircraft gun aboard USS West Virginia and shooting down at least one attacking plane.  Miller was the first African American Serviceman to receive the Navy Cross.  Two Army aviators, 2LT George Welch and 2LT Ken Taylor, managed to get their P40 Warhawks off the ground, and shoot down 7 attacking planes between them.  Welch and Taylor each received the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions. 

Nothing before or since galvanized and unified the American people like the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, dismayed with the timing of the attack, stated that “…we have only succeeded in waking a sleeping giant and filling him with a terrible resolve.”

Take a moment today to remember this event that brought the United States on to the World stage, the men and women who lived thru these events, and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our nation free.  God Bless and thanks for reading. 

December 7th. is truly a special day for remembrance.  Both of my parents were in the service during WWII.  My father was a flyer who didn't return.  My mother, a Navy veteran, returned and eventually remarried a WWII Army veteran.  These veterans went through some tough times during the war and after they arrived home.  The people at home made many sacrifices to help the war effort.  We owe a great debt of gratitude to all of our veterans.  I personally say thank you to all who contributed to our freedoms and way of life in the United States.

they truly are the" great generation"

Thanks for posting this. The flag has been at half mast in my front yard since the break of day. May GOD BLESS our troops. Past, Present and Future.

My father in law got his dive training on the Arizona and Utah as part of the cleanup effort.
they had all but three ships ready in less than 6 months. An increadable feat. My Dad landed in France the week after D day. God bless them all

I posted a similar thread elsewhere. It is sad how few even remeber this day. I asked all 7 of he waitresses at breakfast this morning. 1 out of seven knew.

Thoughts and prayers to all those that gave all on that fatefull day.

Being a Navy Vet from 66-69. I haven't forgotten. Still don't have a Car or Motorcycle in my driveway that doesn't have a American name on it.

My grandmother's brother lost his life on the Arizona 67 years ago today.

God Bless all the veterns, past and present.

Want to see a great series on WWII?  Catch "The War" on PBS......full history with action combat films.  Very interesting.  My dad spent five years at sea during the war, and I went to Vietnam twice....USN.

My Dad was stationed in the Philippines during WWII.
He was a "fighting CB"
My uncle was on ship in the Pacific and my aunt was in Pearl Harbor's Naval base when the Jap zero's hit, strafing and bombing the base.
She hid in the closet with my two cousins while the bullets hit the moulding of that closet door..................Close call.
Now have a son in Iraq, second tour, Army, armor Div.


I too remember and honor our vets, past and present, flying a flag on the front lawn, one on the bike, American flag decal on the the wife's cage as well as mine.
Thanks to those here, to those who gave and to those who are giving, for yours and my freedom.      

Not military myself but Dad was in the Army during WWII and  part of the drive across Europe into Germany near the end. Both of my brothers (twins) are Vietnam era vets, one navy one army. I am 13 years younger than them but this day does not go unnoticed in my family.

RK Me too same in my driveway,the rest of you gentlemen well said,my uncle was captured in the battle of the bulge,he still survives GOD BLESS HIM AND ALL the rest Ironhorse

I also wonder where we would be today with out the car company's and the steel mills that pounded  out the weapons of war.

Fergy

My father was also a SeaBee and served in the Phillipines during WWII, this is definitly a day to remember the Great Generation..

Thanks, to all that served and do serve My Dad God Bless Him


[attachment removed after 60 days by system]

Hey....Is that a knuckle?  Pretty cool, in any event.   

i have been to pearl harbor many times, i have been very fortunate to meet survivors form all the battle ships. the stories they can tell you can't be learned in a history book. they are my hero's.

December 7Th, 2008 is the 32ND anniversary of the day I found the mummified body of Elmer McCurdy. If ya don't know who he is google his name.

Interesting reading, Chris. 
Thanks for that. 

Right on gentlemen, good words all of you.      From one vet to all the rest of the vets here, we won't forget Pearl Harbor, nor will we forget 9/11/01.  He's got nothing to do with Pearl Harbor other than he was a veteran, but I couldn't resist.

Now for more on McCurdy:

Elmer McCurdy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elmer McCurdy (January, 1880 in Washington, Maine â€" October 7, 1911) was an Oklahoma outlaw whose mummified body was discovered in the Nu-Pike amusement park in Long Beach, California in December 1976.

On the TV Series Wild West Tech, Western historian Drew Gomber famously said that "As an outlaw, Elmer McCurdy was truly God's own idiot. He had no business being a bandit." After three years in the U.S. Army, McCurdy traveled to Oklahoma and joined a gang of bank and train robbers. It appears that McCurdy was confused about the train, and believed it contained a safe which held thousands of dollars in government tribal payments. It turns out that the train was delayed for a few hours. He and his gang actually robbed a passenger train, getting away with a paltry take of $46 and a few bottles of liquor. He was shot to death in a gunfight in the Osage Hills shortly thereafter. Shot in the thorax by a .32-20 caliber bullet, according to a contemporary newspaper account, McCurdy's last words were reportedly "You'll never take me alive!" His body was subsequently taken to a funeral home in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. When no one claimed the corpse, the undertaker embalmed it with an arsenic-based preservative and allowed people to see "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up" for a nickel. People would place nickels in McCurdy's mouth, which the undertaker would collect later. It was said that Elmer made more money in death than in life. Many carnival operators asked to buy the mummified body from the undertaker, but he refused.

Almost five years after McCurdy died, a man showed up from a nearby traveling carnival known as the Great Patterson Shows claiming to be McCurdy's long-lost brother. He indicated that he wanted to remove the corpse to give it a proper burial. Within two weeks, however, McCurdy was a featured exhibit with the carnival. For the next 60 years, McCurdy's body was sold to successive wax museums, carnivals, and haunted houses. The owner of a haunted house near Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, refused to purchase him because he thought that McCurdy's body was actually a mannequin and wasn't lifelike enough. Eventually, the corpse wound up in "The Laff in the Dark" funhouse at the Long Beach Pike amusement park in California.

During filming of the 1977 episode "Carnival of Spies" for the television show The Six Million Dollar Man, which was shot at the Pike in December of 1976, a crew member was moving what was thought to be a wax mannequin that was hanging from a gallows. When the mannequin's arm broke off, it was discovered that it was in fact the embalmed and mummified remains of a human. Later, when medical examiner Thomas Noguchi opened the mummy's mouth for other clues, he was surprised to find a 1924 penny and a ticket from Sonney Amusement's Museum of Crime in Los Angeles. That ticket and archived newspaper accounts helped police and researchers identify the body as that of Elmer McCurdy.

His remains were examined in 1976 by forensic anthropologists. McCurdy's remains revealed incisions from his original autopsy and embalming, as well as a gunshot wound in the right anterior chest. Additionally, a copper bullet jacket or gas check from a .32-20 caliber projectile was found embedded in his pelvis (analysis of the projectile showed that the jacket was manufactured between 1905 and the 1930s). Also, video superimposition of the remains with photographs of McCurdy's corpse curated at the University of Oklahoma's Western History Collection confirmed McCurdy's identity.

He was finally buried in the Boot Hill section of the Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma on April 22, 1977. The state medical examiner ordered that two cubic yards of concrete was to be poured over McCurdy's casket, so that his remains would never be disturbed again.

.. Churchill's famous words.."Never in the course of human history, do so  many, owe so much, to so few"....