7 Dec 1941

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
As an amateur historian I study these events, and just recently learned of the large part J. Edgar Hoover played is missing the intelligence that the attack was imminent. A German diplomat/spy had been captured with a "micro dot", which was new technology for the time. The FBI focused all their attention on the technology, and not the information contained in the dot, with Hoover bragging in typical fashion to Roosevelt et al about their great discovery of new spy craft. Had he instead gleaned the information available in the dot, as later happened, it would have been obvious what was about to occur in the Pacific.
 

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Remember Pearl Harbor for sure.....one of the most significant world changing / costly events
 

buckshooter

Old Mossy Horns
Hard times bring out the best in people. We will likely never see that type of generation again.

Edited to add :

I had a teacher in high school ask a history class what character trait was mist evident in that generation.

Most of us answered it with " you couldn't do anything to make them quit "

I guess we all witnessed that up close and personal from our fathers who experienced it. And our mothers who kept things together back here at home.
 
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Moose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
Never forget..... not sure the younger generations even learn about history anymore.
 

Firedog

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
There are many challenging and tragic days in our history, this is one of the foremost among them, the greatness of the USA is that we have, to date at least, always risen to meet those challenges and avenge those tragedies. The resolve in the response immediately and over the next several years continues to amaze me the more I learn about it. It is difficult to imagine and will get harder as there are less and less people around who actually remember.
 

whitty

Six Pointer
My grandfather was in the navy and stationed there. My grandmother and my aunt an uncle were also there. Both my grandparents have now passed on but I still remember all of the stories they told me about that day. My aunt and uncle are still alive and they were old enough to remember it also. At one time my grandfather was the oldest living survivor of Pearl Harbor.
 

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
Our honeymoon 13 wonderful years ago was in Hawaii. We visited Pearl Harbor on December 6th, 2000. Words can not describe.

I also remember 10 months later on Sept 11, a fear I myself had never felt before. Not for my personal well being, but for the way the I knew the world would be forever changed.

I can't fathom the fear many felt when either hearing about or reading about Dec 7, 1941. Knowing if you're a young man you'll probably be called to arms, and probably happy to do so. Wondering if Japan would hit the West coast next?

My fear on the evening of 9/11 probably doesn't come close to the fear of most Americans on the evening of 12/7.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have a friend who is there now. He took 80 of his H.S. band students to play for the 80th anniversary commemoration.

Quite a feat in itself in the Covid world. Hawaii has a bunch of rules, so they had to test before they left, then layover overnight in LA and retest before boarding for HI.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Hard times bring out the best in people. We will likely never see that type of generation again.

Edited to add :

I had a teacher in high school ask a history class what character trait was mist evident in that generation.

Most of us answered it with " you couldn't do anything to make them quit "

I guess we all witnessed that up close and personal from our fathers who experienced it. And our mothers who kept things together back here at home.
@buckshooter you hit the nail on the head!! I’m very fortunate to have both of my grandfathers still alive. You can’t do anything to make them quit…. Both were too young for WWII but both served.One was in the navy during Korea and actually flew on a P2V Neptune as a tail gunner, one of the first planes to take off an aircraft carrier with the A Bomb. He was 13 at the time Pearl Harbor and was working as a soda jerk at his fathers drug store. He said the entire store was huddled around the radio listening to the events unfold. He said every man rushed out to sign up afterwards.
 
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