Dec 7, 1941 Let us never forget

Robert/Texas. I too was drafted on Dec. 6th, 1957. Was scheduled to go to Germany in tank core but last minute profile check being color blind kept me state side at Ft. Benning, Ga. for about 18 months. Pretty good duty, class "A's" most every day and my own pick up at the motor pool to deliver mail and messages all over the post. My heart felt thanks goes out to all military who have served so we may enjoy the life we have this day.
 
may god bless the united states of america and those how served then and now serving.please lord give us the courage to stand up for the freedom we beleive in as did those before us.AMEN..
 
Bob NH

I had it pretty well made too. I took basic in Ft Carson but only the first 8 weeks as I immediately got an IBM operator MOS (military occupation specialty) as this was in great demand at the time. They sent me to the 5th MRU (machine records unit) in downtown Chicago after that and then to Germany in early January. I worked staggered 2nd and 3rd shifts there in Pirmasens (southwest Germany near Kaiserslautern) in their IBM installation. We were allowed to get a car after 6 weeks so I got a '50 Mercedes 170S for $100 and drove it all over Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy and sold it to another GI for the same price I paid for it.

I made a lifetime friend with one of the Germans I worked with and my wife and I visited him often until he died in 2002. We still visit with his daughter and her husband about every other year.
 
I have much reverence for those who perished on December 7, 1941. I won't forget the last two victims of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short.
 
I find it to be quite unsettling that there was not one mention of December 7, 1941 in our local Sunday morning paper.. I guess to many people would just as soon forget about the whole thing.
A little hard for me to forget Dec. 7.. My father and I, along with a couple of his friends were returning from a Sunday rabbit trip up on the Mohave Desert. We were in my dads '40 Chevy, the news came over the car radio about the attach on Pearl Harbor.. Funny, it was not a big surprise to my dad and his friends, the actual location was, the Japanese has been invading country's in the pacific rim since 1936.
 
I'll always hold those guys especially the sailors on the Oklahoma and the Arizona, in my prayers and memories and all who were killed and wounded that day
 
I remember when songs like these were played a lot on the radio, theaters and public places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euz4VdZz25U

not so politically correct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suuN6bkYiug
 
Robert/Texas. Did you know we had a German prisoner camp in northern NH named Camp Stark ? It housed about 250 men and they became quite friendly with the locals and did have reunions for a while. Believe it was a former WPA or CCC camp converted over. You might read more about it on line. We just took a ride up and took a picture of the historical marker beside the highway.
 
There is a belief the the oil that's leaking from the USS Arizona will stop when the last
WW II veteran dies.
Sad to think of the rate that they are dying each & every day !
 
Bob NH

There were a lot of POW camps in Texas during WWII. We visited one in Hearne (about 50 miles from my place) in 2012 on a Model T tour. The remains of this camp have been preserved as a memorial and there is a recreated building there.

In the small town about 10 miles from my place I knew two men who were prison guards (I think from Camp Swift near Bastrop Texas). Both spoke German well. One owned a broken down 2 pump gas station with a long closed auto parts store. I rummaged through the store several times and found some parts for my pre-war Fords. The other was a docent at the Burton Cotton Gin museum and gave German tours occasionally.

In 2000 when my German friend was here we visited the Nimitz museum in Fredericksburg Texas. This is a Pacific Theater museum and rivals the one at Pearl Harbor. We spent at least three hours there and I could hardly get my friend (a German veteran who was drafted at age 14) to leave.

I was disappointed last night to see how little WWII programming or mention there was on the news media. Perhaps I missed something.
 
72 years ago on the 17th of December my father was Captured by the 1st SS Panzers in the Battle of the Bulge and started his hell on earth. He and 4 others escaped 3 1/2 months lather and made it back to the front lines. He spoke about his experience to whoever would listen, it was twofold, to get the real horror of war out and a type of release to keep from trying to hide pent up emotions. Talk about PTSD , He never received a penny from the VA because of it. He wrote his complete story, it is amazing what he went through. He had excellent recall of even all the small details. He worked in Wurzburg as a prisoner and he would load a little truck that was converted to steam power as the Germans had little fuel to waste. it was a wood burner! Dec 7th was an important date to my folks, They always had very bad feeling towards the ****, a lot worse than the krauts !
 
Thank you to all that made it possible for me to be born in a free country. I hope future generations will keep information and stories alive so it can never be said that it "It didn't happen".
 
Thank you Veterans, it was a lifetime ago, and we must remember and support those who served then...... We must support and respect those who serve now!
 
I've just spent the day listening to Sirius/XM's "Radio Classics" channel which has been rebroadcasting news reports and radio programs from the day. It's been a fascinating listen with the hindsight of history and now-declassified information to compare against what was broadcast to the public. One thing I was keeping an ear open for was mention of the German advance stalling outside of Moscow at the same time - I had a great uncle whom was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1940 and died on December 8th within sight of the Kremlin. Needless to say, news from Europe was overshadowed by what was happening in Hawaii, the Phillipines, Wake Island, Guam and Singapore.
 
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