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It's Pearl Harbor Day ... and it's Delware Day
BillJones
Posts: 33,486 ✭✭✭✭✭
"December 7th, 1941 ... a day that will live in infamy ...
And on December 7, 1787, Delaware become the first state to ratify the Constitution hence giving it one of its nicknames.
Old Swedes Church as it looks today. There is a bush in the way. Old Swedes is located in Wilmington, Delaware.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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Thanks billJones for recognizing the day! Interesting tidbit about Delaware. Here is a photo of my uncle, Richard James Ahern, KIA, 12/07/1941 on the USS Arizona. May he be resting in peace with his shipmates.
Thanks for the post about Delaware, my native state. The Old Swedes church on the obverse is a stone's throw away from the site where the Swedes landed in 1638 in the ship depicted on the coin's reverse. The church was built about 60 years later in 1698 and by that time, Sweden had lost its New World territories and the English (more specifically William Penn) owned Delaware as part of the Pennsylvania colony.
Delaware was my home state too. The "up state" guys looked down on us who came from Sussex County, but I got to go to the University of Delaware which got me started on my way up. The really good teachers I had at my unaccredited down state high school helped me out too. I didn't no know much about Old Swedes Church until I visited there when I was in my early 60s, and I'm a history buff.
The debt that we owe that generation of Americans can never be fully repaid. R.I.P. Dad, R.I.P. Uncle Bob, R.I.P. Uncle Johnny. R.I.P. to all the heroes who are no longer among us and thank you, thank you, thank you, to those of you who are. God bless everyone of you. And God bless America. Semper Fi.
I have had the opportunity to visit the Arizona Memorial in the past and expect to again in the future. I will look for your uncle's name to include thoughts of gratitude for his service and sacrifice.
Pictured is my granddaughter at the memorial at Pearl Harbor where the names of those who lost their lives on the U.S.S. Arizona are listed on a wall within the memorial which sits over the sunken ship there in the harbor. Among the names within that memorial is an E.A. W_____, FCsc. Sharing the name of W_____ I wanted to know more about this person. After returning from a visit to the memorial I posted an inquiry on the geneology forum, “Gen Forum” asking if anyone knew more about him whom I had been able to further identify as Edward Alfred W_____ Some time later I received a responsive posting from a Robert W_____ who advised that Edward was his uncle who was killed at the age of 19 and had been born in Covington, Kentucky. I further learned that Robert had a younger brother who was named after Edward in honor of him. In November of 2008 I responded back by posting: “Thank you for the information. It is certainly an honor to share the W_____ name with one who served his country and gave his life in that service. Ironically, I just got your message as Veterans Day is starting.”
Earlier, in 2004 I had the opportunity to along with my wife attend the commencement of our third oldest son at his graduation from Northwestern University just outside of Chicago. Speaking at the Commencement was Tom Brokaw, the NBC news anchor, who had just completed his book, “The Greatest Generation” in which he wrote of those who served in World War II. In his remarks he paid tribute to the young men and women who had 60 years earlier fought for freedom in that war and challenged the graduates before him to become the next “greatest generation.” He told those of us there assembled that these veterans of World War II offered a “priceless legacy for your own unique and profound set of challenges.” To the graduates in particular he challenged, “Remember them as you leave here to change the world and the circumstances you have inherited. Share their excitement in the opportunities before you, however taxing they may be. And most of all, anticipate the satisfaction of history’s judgment that you did not fail.”
My own father and four of his brothers were among those members of “The Greatest Generation” that Tom Brokaw referenced as having served their country in World War II. Years ago I was invited to go through some materials in the attic of what was by then the abandoned ranch house in which my father had lived growing up in Nevada. One of the items I came across was a hanging upon which were placed upwards of five cloth stars. I later learned that each of those stars represented a son of my grandparents who was serving in the military during World War II. Somewhere in my things I still have that momento.
The five brothers served in the following branches of the United States military during World War II: Harold _____, my father, in the Navy; Paul W_____ in the Air Force; William (“Bill’) W_____ in the infantry to include the Alaska National Guard and the Army; Gerald W_____, the Coast Guard; and Roy W_____ in the Army artillery. As one of them stated, they “all came home in one piece. Even though several did receive wounds of varying degrees, all were able to return, raise families, contribute to society, and enjoy eventful lives."
My father's decision to serve his country was, like many others, precipitated by the events that occurred on Pearl Harbor Day 75 years ago today.
He wrote, “After Pearl Harbor Day, I decided that I would prefer to serve my country in the Navy, and enlisted in the Navy in Salt Lake City.” At the time he lived on a ranch near Elko, Nevada.
My father went into the Navy as an apprentice Seaman and completed his service as a Chief Petty Officer which is the highest rank for a non-commissioned officer. He went to San Diego for six weeks boot camp and then traveled to Chicago where he spent nine months in aviation metalsmith school there on Chicago’s Navy Pier which had housed the training schools. During that time he attended church in Chicago where he met my mother who was a student at the University of Chicago. He then went on to Providence Rhode Island and eventually overseas to Peurto Rico where he spent his final two years in the Navy until the war ended.
So indirectly, my own existence was also a consequence of Pearl Harbor Day.
Northcoin
Thanks Northcoin.... Every year we remember this day and what it means.... andto those of us who have ties to that time and those people it is very special. Cheers, RickO
Thanks Ricko. Here is a more complete expanded photo at the Arizona Memorial that I just located:
Just caught the Smithsonian Pearl Harbor Special titled, "The Lost Tapes" that includes footage that has not been seen since 1941. Interestingly, the original of the reprinted Honolulu newspaper posted above was included in the footage:
The original:
The reprint from yesterday's (December 7, 2016) Honolulu paper:
ill always remember that date until my last day here on earth.
Prior to seeing the Smithsonian special that contained footage that had not been seen since December of 1941 i had heard a touching story about a number of civillians who where killed by friendly fire. The story referenced a group of young adult boxers who had come to Honolulu for a boxing competition and were in proximity to the noodle shop when the U.S. Artillery shell exploded. Also a number of the Japanese American family members associated with the noodle shop were also killed including several small children.
When seeing the Smithsonian Pearl Harbor special there was a fleeting glimpse of a demolished noodle shop. After doing some follow up investigation I was able to determine that the shown "Cherry Blossom Saimin Noodles" shop was in fact that same location.
Of course in the Smithsonian TV Special it was erroneously implied that the destruction came from a Japanese bomb rather than a U.S. Artillery shell that had been improperly loaded. (Properly assembled they explode in the sky, not on the ground.)
Here is a link to the account I found which tied the pictured noodle shop as seen in the Smithsonian piece to the story I had previously heard:
ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth1_1200.htm