[Michael R. Hicks]

Yeah, we were driving down the road and my dad was wondering why the flags were at half-mast. "Ummm, December 7th?"

Some of the ships were still billowing smoke when my grandfather's naval unit came in - he was one of the hard-hat divers that helped raised the battleships.

We visited Pearl a few years ago, and it was a very interesting experience for a number of reasons. One of them was that BY FAR the largest group of people in the tour of the Arizona Memorial were Japanese, but there was nary a one to visit the Missouri. I understand why, but the contrast was really striking.

But yeah, it's a shame that now - aside from an occasional mention - days like Pearl Harbor seem to be rapidly fading (it seems to me that this fade-out started to accelerate around the 60th anniversary of war's end). Even things as recent as the Cold War seems to have been largely forgotten...  :-(

Mike

 

[Michael R. Hicks]

The successful efforts in the US to gear up war materials production while still feeding and suppling Britain and the home folks, still boggles the mind.

Cush -

This is the reason that - despite whatever warts America might have - I remain a "believer." No matter how you look at it, what America did in WWII - particularly in terms of our production and logistics (among many other things) - was nothing short of a miracle made by smart and hard-working men and women. That's why I still believe that we can, if/when push comes to shove, deal with any challenge as a country, given the right leadership. People are different today in many ways than they were back then, but I like to think that at heart we still retain all the "good" traits that their generation had...

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Michael R. Hicks]

Sailor -

Thank you for posting this, and I'd ask you to please keep doing it in future. I think it's important that we remember these things (and not just for WWII) - too many of us lose track of so many of the important milestones of how we got to where we are in the hectic hubbub of daily life! 

Cheers,
Mike