Stop everything, it's December 7th!!!
I can't believe that I went through this much of the day before realizing it's December 7th. Post of coin from 1941, share a story or anything relevant. This past veterans day I had the privilege of eating and rubbing elbows with a WWII vet at my local VFW. Nothing quite like it, not many of these guys left. This is the best I could muster up a beat up 41S Walker.
My grandfather's bayonet and Kbar found in a trunk of personal items.
My grandfather aboard the USCGC STORIS, flushing out Nazis taking refuge in Newfoundland and Greenland.
Comments
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I've been thinking about that today, too.
This isn't from 1941 and it isn't even a coin or a US Mint product, but it is a medal to commemorate a trip that was done in large part to strengthen the ties between the New World and the Old in anticipation of conflict-
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I believe that original K-Bars are very collectable. The bayonet looks to be an uncut/unshortened blade that escaped the WWII modifications.
It is great that these were preserved.
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I can never forget this day in history .
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I know that this is 'Pearl Harbor Day' to the rest of the world, but in my house this is the fourteenth anniversary of my wife falling at work and destroying her ankle and damaging the nerves so that every single day is a new adventure in pain. So not a day for looking back around here.
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Truly a day to remember!
Pat Vetter,Mercury Dime registry set,1938 Proof set registry,Pat & BJ Coins:724-325-72112 -
My Grandfather was born on December 7,1891. After church, on Sunday December 7,1941, a house full of relatives gathered at his house to celebrate his 50th birthday. That afternoon they received word of the attack at Pearl Harbor. One of his nephews ,who was already in the army, had to leave the party to report for duty. My grandfather later started working at the Vultee Aircraft factory to do his part in the war.
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First thing this morning, I viewed some photos that were taken the day of the attack on Pearl. Japan is fortunate we only nuked two cities.
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My dad was drafted into the Army for WWll within a few months of his high school graduation. After boot camp he set sail for North Africa, then on to Sicily, then all over Europe. Altogether he spent almost three years "over there". He told me he didn't pickup many souvenirs until about a month before he knew he was "coming home". Two reasons I guess. (1) He didn't know if he'd ever be coming home and (2) He said once the war was over, German military stuff was very easy to find. I have a bunch of war time money (coins and paper) but I doubt if it has any value, but maybe someday I'll check. Sorry no pictures of that stuff.
Here's a picture of a couple of German dress daggers and a German P-38 he picked up just before he came home. The P-38 (9mm) is still fully functional and the steel dagger blades are almost spotless.
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The "fanfare" that this date that will live in infamy is noted for sadly seems less and less remembered as the years wind on.
Pete
"I tell them there's no problems.....only solutions" - John Lennon2 -
@bolivarshagnasty said:
First thing this morning, I viewed some photos that were taken the day of the attack on Pearl. Japan is fortunate we only nuked two cities.Especially when you consider the atrocities Japan committed against millions of innocent civilians across Eastern Asia (particularly in China).
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My folks got this.
Shows varying frontlines and gun emplacements.
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>
Is that an unissued WWII .45? How does stuff like that even exist? Any idea on ballpark value?
I think it is. I purchased it from a young coworker of my mother. This lady’s grandfather had passed and left her this, a S&W revolver, and a junk .22 Valor. she said she “didn’t want guns in the house”. So I’m happy to honor her grandfather’s service by keeping it. It has two original mags that came with two 1944 headstamped cartridges in one of them.
It was a tough offer to make too. I had to be high enough for her not to shop it around more, which for me was 1600 at the time. I could just hear someone else saying “well I’ll give you 1650.”
As far as value today. I think 2k easy and wish for the sky.
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@bolivarshagnasty said:
First thing this morning, I viewed some photos that were taken the day of the attack on Pearl. Japan is fortunate we only nuked two cities.What made it truly despicable is that they were in Washington talking peace at the time!!!!!
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Yes, it is December 7. Yesterday, I asked everyone at the shop if they knew what December 7 was. No one knew the significance of the date. People aged 50+-25. Nobody knew nobody cared. What's Pearl Harbor? Never heard of it. What's World War II? They don't know and they don't care.
When I was a boy a classmate told me a story. His father was there. He said that his dad saw a man thrown through the air against a metal ladder on the battleship. The man was impressed into the ladder. Cut into square pieces. I think of that every Dec. 7. And other times too.
We live in the age of ignorance.
I do remember. And today I remember my Uncle Johnny who I never met. Shot down over Germany. The pride of the family. Killed in action. I remember Uncle Ernie. He told me that the bullets whizzing by his head in the Philippines sounded like buggy whips and that he wanted to just go home....to Kansas. I remember Uncle Curly. The burning and smoking palm trees on some Pacific island impressed him the most and that he was afraid that the incoming shells from the battleships would hit him instead of the Japanese. He didn't use the word "Japanese." I remember the twins. Uncle's Lloyd and Floyd. They served together . 82nd. Airborne I think. North Africa, Italy, and the invasion over France on D-Day. Kansas farm boys. They both committed suicide around 1964. My mother said it was because of the terrible things that they saw in the war. They were happy boys when they left but they were changed when they came back. Heavy drinkers. I remember my Uncle Bob. My favorite. As I was his. U.S. Marine Corps. 1942-65. Saw action on Roi Namor, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and in Korea. Oh, did he have stories! But the one that always sticks with me is this one; He told me that on Iwo an artillery shell came down and landed right next to him. Buried in the black sand. It was glowing red and orange. He reached over and touched it. Why? Burned his hand. And then.....he took two shots to his left side and left leg. They were little purple dots that he would show me, years after, to my amazment. He also told me that while out on maneuvers in Hawaii for the invasion of Japan, word came in that the atomic bomb had dropped. Everyone was called in. HOT CHOW! He was happy because he thought he would get killed during the invasion.
I do remember. I remember my father. United States Navy. Poor ranch boy. Joined before graduating high school. He was on an aircraft carrier. It was sunk. Guadalcanal I think. He never would say. He survived. Not many did. He lived. He married my mother and now I have 12 grandchildren. Isn't life strange?
I wanted so badly to follow in their footsteps. In defense of our great nation. I took HELL for it. From them. No regrets
Lastly, I remember the WOMEN. The GRANDMA. The SISTERS. The WIVES. The TEARS. The sleepless nights that they cried over their lost sons, brothers, husbands. The father of the orphaned children.
OH, I REMEMBER.
SEMPER FIDELIS
NON SIBI SED PATRIAE
AND THE CASSIONS GO ROLLING ALONG18 -
As many of you know, my Dad (who passed away last year) was a Pearl Harbor survivor. When we were going through our family home earlier this year, we found a photo album that he had put together during the time he was stationed at Pearl Harbor. We had seen a few photographs but didn't know he had an entire photo album, including photos of significant stars who performed at the USO tours on Pearl Harbor such as Shirley Temple and Charlie Chaplin. Here are a few pages, but there are many more.
We also found a journal that my Dad kept starting in January 1942 through the entire year, just a few weeks after the attack. He talks about what he did every day, what was going on at the base, including significant events that were occurring during the war. He even talks about the Japanese submarines that were discovered in the harbor, major battles in the Pacific, his friends who didn't return, etc. The discovery of his journal came as a complete surprise to us as we had never seen it before or knew it even existed.
We also discovered this old squadron photograph. That's my dad sitting on the bottom row in the middle.
And this is an interview the local newspaper did of my Dad about where he was during the attack for the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
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I need to add this; The women in the family taught us the songs. The tradition. We all knew by heart the Marine Corps Hymn. And Up, up into the Wild Blue Yonder, The Cassions Go Rolling Along. They were tough girls. They made us tough. I love them all. They're all gone now. We could use more like them. They suffered, they persevered. God bless them. GOD BLESS OUR NATION.
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Penny Lady, what a handsome man your father was. Oh, youth! So much responsibility. So young. We are the beneficiaries. He was a HERO. I am sure of that.
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My dad being released from POW camp in Yugoslavia. He was captured while riding a German horse, and when he was released, they had not eaten that horse yet.
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@DIMEMAN said:
@bolivarshagnasty said:
First thing this morning, I viewed some photos that were taken the day of the attack on Pearl. Japan is fortunate we only nuked two cities.What made it truly despicable is that they were in Washington talking peace at the time!!!!!
Kinda like "fire and fury" and "love letters".
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@mustangmanbob said:
My dad being released from POW camp in Yugoslavia. He was captured while riding a German horse, and when he was released, they had not eaten that horse yet.He was captured? Oh my! What kind of warrior is that? A hero in my opinion!!
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My grandfather served in the occupation forces in Japan. My other grandfather fought his way across the Pacific, especially in New Guinea. I've been to Pearl Harbor three times. The first was when I was 7, and my only real memory was the small drops of fuel oil on the surface that were still rising to the top and making little rainbows. That was in 1977. I took my family there a few years ago, and to my horror I realized that more time had passed between my two visits than between the ship sinking in 1941 and my first visit.
The little drops of oil are still rising. They still will be, long after living memory of those events vanishes.
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I think a new one might cost that at retail these days. A WWII one in that shape would be a bargain in my mind.
Hearing the story hurts almost as much as missing out on the 2019S RP SE.
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705th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Five battle stars including the one for being attached to the 101st Airborne at Bastogne. When I think about our collective history and what those who came before us had to overcome, societies current problems seem small to me.10 -
At my mom’s first job after high school in 1963, the older ladies in the office were discussing Pearl Harbor on the anniversary. They couldn’t believe my mom didn’t know what it was and one of the ladies decided she was going to call my mom every December 7th to remind her. For the rest of her coworkers life, every December 7th, she would call to remind my mom. From the time I was old enough to understand, I knew what Pearl Harbor was because of those phone calls.
She called my mom for around 50 years with out fail to remind her.
Because of her, and my neighbor who was a P-38 pilot in the Pacific, I don’t remember ever not knowing about WWII or the sacrifices made.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
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InHonorOf Tech 5 Salomon Torrez, my great uncle, KIA 1/26/45 Battle of Bulge--one of "The Besieged Bastards of Bastogne":
A special thanks to those who have served, including the man seen here, Tech 5 (Corporal) Salomon J. Torrez, my great uncle. Salomon enlisted in 1942, and was killed on January 26, 1945. As a member of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Salomon and the members of his company were attached to the 101st Airborne Division, and spent the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, alongside members of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment--known to us as the "Band of Brothers." A survivor of the Battle, Salomon (posthumously) and members of the 705th were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, which I've attached below, along with a poem from one of the members of his unit, describing their engagement at Bastogne.
GSAs, OBW rolls, Seated, Walkers. Anything old and Colorado-focused, CO nationals.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.9 -
__> @mustangmanbob said:
My dad being released from POW camp in Yugoslavia. He was captured while riding a German horse, and when he was released, they had not eaten that horse yet.
Your dad looks about 15 years old.
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The nightly news and the newspapers used to remind us every Dec 7th but I am not sure they do that anymore.
The refrain in 1898 and for many years thereafter was "Remember The Maine" in honor of the battleship USS Maine which blew up in Havana Harbor. Now, of course, that is a footnote to history to most people.
I can't imagine the same thing happening with Dec. 7th but as time goes by who knows.
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@RockyMtnProspector said:
InHonorOf Tech 5 Salomon Torrez, my great uncle, KIA 1/26/45 Battle of Bulge--one of "The Besieged Bastards of Bastogne":
A special thanks to those who have served, including the man seen here, Tech 5 (Corporal) Salomon J. Torrez, my great uncle. Salomon enlisted in 1942, and was killed on January 26, 1945. As a member of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Salomon and the members of his company were attached to the 101st Airborne Division, and spent the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, alongside members of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment--known to us as the "Band of Brothers." A survivor of the Battle, Salomon (posthumously) and members of the 705th were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, which I've attached below, along with a poem from one of the members of his unit, describing their engagement at Bastogne.
My friend, the late, Eddie Martinez was also a BASTARD. Perhaps he and your uncle knew each other. Who knows? Edwardo told us kids that the cold was bad. All his friends got killed. The grenades were the worst. And......We were lucky! Nice man. Everyone loved him.
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It all seems like so long ago. But it really isn't.
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My other great uncle, Anthony Cerrone, fought at Peleliu and was KIA September 16, 1944 as he was disembarking from the landing craft. He was buried at sea.
While doing some genealogical research, I found his draft card. My mother has the telegram my great-grandfather received after his death.
GSAs, OBW rolls, Seated, Walkers. Anything old and Colorado-focused, CO nationals.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.10 -
@Hydrant said:
My friend, the late, Eddie Martinez was also a BASTARD. Perhaps he and your uncle knew each other. Who knows? Edwardo told us kids that the cold was bad. All his friends got killed. The grenades were the worst. And......We were lucky! Nice man. Everyone loved him.
I believe I have a roster spreadsheet somewhere. It's entirely possible. Growing up, I always knew that I had a great uncle who died in the Battle of the Bulge, and when one of my cousins provided me with enough info, I found out everything I could about him, including the citation and the poem. I was floored to learn he fought alongside those brave men.
The ballz on those guys:
GSAs, OBW rolls, Seated, Walkers. Anything old and Colorado-focused, CO nationals.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.5 -
My uncle. Pearl Harbor Survivor. I sure miss him.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
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@Hydrant According to the personnel roster here, the only Martinez and my great uncle were both in C company, second platoon.
https://tankdestroyer.net/images/stories/ArticlePDFs/705th_Personnel_Assignments-Pt._2-29_pages.pdf
GSAs, OBW rolls, Seated, Walkers. Anything old and Colorado-focused, CO nationals.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.0 -
My favorite 1941 Walker in a PCGS 2.1.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
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@RockyMtnProspector said:
InHonorOf Tech 5 Salomon Torrez, my great uncle, KIA 1/26/45 Battle of Bulge--one of "The Besieged Bastards of Bastogne":
Don't know if you have this. Your Uncle is top row third from the right.
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Source says second row fourth from the left.
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@Hydrant said:
Yes, it is December 7. Yesterday, I asked everyone at the shop if they knew what December 7 was. No one knew the significance of the date. People aged 50+-25. Nobody knew nobody cared. What's Pearl Harbor? Never heard of it. What's World War II? They don't know and they don't care.When I was a boy a classmate told me a story. His father was there. He said that his dad saw a man thrown through the air against a metal ladder on the battleship. The man was impressed into the ladder. Cut into square pieces. I think of that every Dec. 7. And other times too.
We live in the age of ignorance.
I do remember. And today I remember my Uncle Johnny who I never met. Shot down over Germany. The pride of the family. Killed in action. I remember Uncle Ernie. He told me that the bullets whizzing by his head in the Philippines sounded like buggy whips and that he wanted to just go home....to Kansas. I remember Uncle Curly. The burning and smoking palm trees on some Pacific island impressed him the most and that he was afraid that the incoming shells from the battleships would hit him instead of the Japanese. He didn't use the word "Japanese." I remember the twins. Uncle's Lloyd and Floyd. They served together . 82nd. Airborne I think. North Africa, Italy, and the invasion over France on D-Day. Kansas farm boys. They both committed suicide around 1964. My mother said it was because of the terrible things that they saw in the war. They were happy boys when they left but they were changed when they came back. Heavy drinkers. I remember my Uncle Bob. My favorite. As I was his. U.S. Marine Corps. 1942-65. Saw action on Roi Namor, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and in Korea. Oh, did he have stories! But the one that always sticks with me is this one; He told me that on Iwo an artillery shell came down and landed right next to him. Buried in the black sand. It was glowing red and orange. He reached over and touched it. Why? Burned his hand. And then.....he took two shots to his left side and left leg. They were little purple dots that he would show me, years after, to my amazment. He also told me that while out on maneuvers in Hawaii for the invasion of Japan, word came in that the atomic bomb had dropped. Everyone was called in. HOT CHOW! He was happy because he thought he would get killed during the invasion.
I do remember. I remember my father. United States Navy. Poor ranch boy. Joined before graduating high school. He was on an aircraft carrier. It was sunk. Guadalcanal I think. He never would say. He survived. Not many did. He lived. He married my mother and now I have 12 grandchildren. Isn't life strange?
I wanted so badly to follow in their footsteps. In defense of our great nation. I took HELL for it. From them. No regrets
Lastly, I remember the WOMEN. The GRANDMA. The SISTERS. The WIVES. The TEARS. The sleepless nights that they cried over their lost sons, brothers, husbands. The father of the orphaned children.
OH, I REMEMBER.
SEMPER FIDELIS
NON SIBI SED PATRIAE
AND THE CASSIONS GO ROLLING ALONGIt will be that way in 20 years about Vietnam........maybe sooner the way younger people are these days.
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Young people don't know and they don't care.... ignorance is rampant.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
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My father in Italy, 1945:
Robert Scot: Engraving Liberty - biography of US Mint's first chief engraver7 -
@Walkerfan said:
Young people don't know and they don't care.... ignorance is rampant.Yes I agree, but it isn't just young people..... though most young people seem not to be interested in history at all.
Ignorance is worn like a proud badge, and I just can't understand it.5 -
Great recounts. May God bless them all. Unfortunately, the shooting a couple of days ago and the Pensacola terrorist shooting Friday morning has greatly distracted from our local remembrance.
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@renman95 said:
Great recounts. May God bless them all. Unfortunately, the shooting a couple of days ago and the Pensacola terrorist shooting Friday morning has greatly distracted from our local remembrance.I know it's sad, a shooting at Pearl Harbor and Pensacola, it's becoming all to common. Thanks to all those that contributed, God bless us all.
World coins FSHO Hundreds of successful BST transactions U.S. coins FSHO0 -
Pearl Harbor and the war affected many of us in later generations - my mother and myself might not have been around had my Midwestern born grandfather not been based at the Presidio where he met and married my grandmother before shipping off for duty in Hawaii in 1942. My grandmother could recount where she was in San Francisco when she found out about the attack in Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning.
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I was born five months after....and grew up with stories of the war.....Probably influenced me to join the Navy, right out of high school...No regrets... Cheers, RickO
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Thank you to all our servicemen and women!
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I don’t have a single coin dated 1941. So here is a rifle constructed by members of the Greatest Generation. It’s a 1941 Winchester Model 1894 (at that time, still a US company.) Thanks to anyone reading who fought in WWII, and anyone who has served!
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