LEST WE FORGET

[mgwin]

Rodney,

Well said!

 

[dschwandt]

Got back from the ceremony at the cemetery where I stood with the legion. You would think the younger members would know the difference between "trail arms","present arms" and "parade rest"

The singer for the National Anthem was excellent as she DID NOT personalize it in any way. Refreshing to say the least and I congratulated her on a job well done emphasizing that fact.

It's worse than fingernails on a blackboard to me when I hear so-called professionals do that at sports events and such.

 

[fcurrier]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJO7lJIxG10

 

[dschwandt]

This is awesome, very inspiring, not a word spoken.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uoABty_zE00?rel=0

BTW, this is the 101st anniversary of our entry into WWI

 

[dschwandt]

What God did at Pearl Harbor that day is interesting and I never knew
this little bit of history.

Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii
every thirty minutes. We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes.
I went into a small gift shop to kill time.

In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on
Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz. Sunday, December 7th, 1941--
Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington , DC .
He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered
the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone.

He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of
the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of
the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941.

There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would
have thought the Japanese had already won the war. On Christmas Day,
1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on
Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels
cluttered the waters everywhere you looked. As the tour boat returned
to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do
you think after seeing all this destruction?"

Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.
Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes
an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America .
Which do you think it was?"

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by
saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever
made?" Nimitz explained:

Mistake number one: The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out
of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships
had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead
of 3,800.

Mistake number two: When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a
row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed
our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would
have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired.
As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised.
One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America.
And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three: Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of
the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have
strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.

That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack
force could make or, God was taking care of America .

I've never forgotten what I read in that little book. It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it.
In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas -- he was a born optimist.
But any way you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation
and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job.

 

[rkelm]

David, I live here in Texas and Fredericksburg is only about an hours drive from where I live and I have been to the Nimitz museum there several times and it makes you think about those guys in WWII like my dad. Thay had an attitude they were going to win this thing. I tell you something eiry, I was at Peal Harbor waiting to get on the shuttle to the Arizona and they had a movie clip you watch before hand and I was watching it and I knew my dads ships name, he was on a tanker and a predissor to the seals, and in the movie that ship passed in front of the camera, I wanted to jump up and say I saw my dads ship. Something like 60 years later and there was my dad somewhere on that ship right in front of me. Talk about weird. Hope the next generations don't forget what those people went through so we can be free.

 

[dschwandt]

Rodney, These men like your Dad were my HEROES when I was growing up in the 50's. My oldest brother was on a seaplane tender towards the end of the war off Okinawa.

I just finished the book, "Halsey's Typhoon" about the terrible storm that overtook the fleet in Dec 1944. 3 ships were lost along with something like 800 men. Awesome read, I think you would like.

 

[rkelm]

David, thanks I will look for the book. It is interesting because my dad was listed MIA/lost at sea in two typhoons in the pacific and Indian Ocean this could have been one of them, he said he was in about a half dozen typhoons during his time. He also talked about riding huge rogue waves at times, he said they just appeared out of no where. I really need to write down what he has told me and my mom just to pass it along.

 

[dschwandt]

Rodney, E-mail me your address and I will forward tat book down to you. It's a paperback so not a big deal.
Dave

 

[dschwandt]

As Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of D-Day draws closer.....

Dakotas over Normandy.
37 of these vintage aircraft to participate in this years commemoration activities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TkyCqUJhig&fbclid=IwAR08qahI1IwMVCeu7kyjXlqO3wdid4VvzK29xM7l-x1sC61YUGZEymQ3SyU

Would be awesome to bear witness to this!!
Again, these men were my heroes when I was growing up in the 50's

 

[digger]

David S.
Back in 1994, I was privileged enough to participate in the 50th anniversary event. I and 300 others in the Air Guard made the trip to get the honor of being in the first wave to jump from a C-47. Something I will never forget!

 

[digger]

 

[kmcconaughey]

Charlie, COOL!

 

[dschwandt]

Charlie....

<u>AWESOME!!</u> is the word for that!!

What height did you jump from and did you carry any equipment on the way down??

 

[digger]

Looked like around 3K. Just carried the normal stuff they did back in the day.
Freakin wool is a real PITA, I feel for those old timers that had to wear that crap!
A few of us cheated a little and wore panty hose! Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

 

[dschwandt]

With Memorial Day 2019 soon to be upon us,

Here's another good read from Hillsdale College.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/sacred-duty-soldiers-tour-arlington-national-cemetery/

 

[glippert]

Digger - You jumped out of a perfectly good gooney bird? Nice! That must have been quite an honor to do that for the 50th. I agree with Kraig & David: Cool & Awesome!

 

[glippert]

David - Thanks for that link - it is, indeed, a good read.

 

[digger]

In case you didn't know, the Normandy beach invasion started at 6:30 A.M., or 11:30 P.M. central time. Since it just a little over a hour and some change away from that time!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Charlie, thanks for the reminder.