I remember Pearl Harbor...

[uncle Alan]

7 December 1941

At 14:00 hours we kids were playing ball on 8th. st,Wilmington N.C. Our mothers called us to the radio. " THIS IS NO DRILL,THIS IS NO DRILL ! Pearl Harbor is under attack by Japanese aircraft . Ships are sinking, air bases are in shambles,there are many dead and wounded. All off duty personnel report to your duty stations....

Uncle Alan

 

[orca8589]

Thanks for sharing; this was a bittersweet time for many of my ancestors who were alive when it happened.

Here locally, we have a little ceremony: the old navigation beacon on Mount Diablo is lit every December 7th by living veterans, who were at Pearl Harbor. They light it and share their stories with other folks who are there to participate in the ceremony.

It was shut off on Dec. 7th, '41, due to the possibility that there could be Japanese attackers waiting off the California coast. It wasn't relit until sometime in the 50's. It became a yearly tradition from then on.

~Chris

 

[Trent Rock]

Thanks for sharing Alan

My uncle was in Pearl Harbor
My father always would mention it to me as a young kid
Kind of a "treat him with UTMOST respect" kind of lesson from a father to a son I will never forget

I grew up at the "base" of Mt. Diablo
I never knew about the ceremony
That's pretty cool
I know the Mt. Diablo beacon house was in a state of disintegration for many years
They have fixed it up really nice............

 

[joe-bob]

My father-in-law joined the Navy because of Pearl Harbor. He served as a SeaBee in the Pacific, and was wounded by a sniper on Saipan while trying to repair a recently captured airstrip so that our planes could use it.

(Up until recently, I thought he was wounded on Okinawa, but I have learned otherwise. He did serve there, but was shot on Saipan. Curiously, what wounded him the worst and effected him his whole life was malaria.)

I myself served in the Navy as a jet engine mechanic, and spent significant time on carriers. I've been to Pearl Harbor, but not to the Memorial, although I've sailed past it a few times.