Remember Pearl Harbor

I Remember December 7, 1941 very well, because my Uncle gave his life in the Service of his country.
The following World War Two, and then the following rebuilding of Japan & other Countries continues to
be proof to the World of the greatness of the USA

A date that will live in infamy!

Wow. It is great to see this post. I have been reminding/ asking if people remember what today is. I'm 39 and can't believe how many people don't remember this date (everyone I asked)... I'm afraid to think what that says about us. I fear it won't be long until people forget 9-11, along with everything else that it took for them to live like they do; the American revolution, the civil war... Viva la America! And Mexico too.

Interestingly, the WASHINGTON POST published a Pearl Harbor story today for the first time in 71 years:

"On Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, I was working as a reporter for the Hono­lulu Star-Bulletin. After a week of war, I wrote a story directed at Hawaii’s women; I thought it would be useful for them to know what I had seen. It might help prepare them for what lay ahead. But my editors thought the graphic content would be too upsetting for readers and decided not to run my article. It appears here for the first time........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/honolulu-after-pearl-harbor-a-report-published-for-the-first-time-71-years-later/2012/12/06/e9029986-3d69-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html

Imperial powers sending their young men to either protect or procure empires. The whole "protecting our freedom" bullshit is tiresome. Wars are fought for one reason, money.

seisdedos wrote:Imperial powers sending their young men to either protect or procure empires. The whole "protecting our freedom" bullshit is tiresome. Wars are fought for one reason, money.

I agree with you, wars are fought for money (and religion). And without money you can't have freedom, at least not in this world IMO. You can call it what you want but if you (or those who would fight for YOU) don't defend your freedom’s (money) you won't have any!!!

[quote="seisdedos"]Imperial powers sending their young men to either protect or procure empires. The whole "protecting our freedom" bullshit is tiresome. Wars are fought for one reason, money.[/quote]

Or, in the case of the Japanese Empire vs. the U.S. Empire fighting for control of the Pacific territory, which was about money as well but less easily negotiated. Two decadent imperial powers determined to subjugate the Pacific and China. The attack on Pearl Harbor may have proven a brilliant tactical move if the Japanese had had good intelligence and known to attack when most of the U.S. fleet was in port and had had the good sense to complete their mission and occupy Hawaii. The Japanese command was shortsighted and failed to follow through.

History is written by the winners and if that were not so, Kissinger would have been indicted for war crimes in Indochina and would be rotting in jail today.

tictoc wrote:

seisdedos wrote:Imperial powers sending their young men to either protect or procure empires. The whole "protecting our freedom" bullshit is tiresome. Wars are fought for one reason, money.

I agree with you, wars are fought for money (and religion). And without money you can't have freedom, at least not in this world IMO. You can call it what you want but if you (or those who would fight for YOU) don't defend your freedom’s (money) you won't have any!!!

What freedom's (sic) exactly were we fighting for? Japan had no desire nor the capability of denying Americans their freedom.

>>>> I agree with you, wars are fought for money (and religion). And without money you can't have freedom,

Money doesn't give you freedom and religion takes it away ... the world upside down

I was -2 at the time so feel no guilt

Funny how people attack the US for no reasons..Sundown you should dig down in your history books and wonder why the US was attacked instead of blaming it all on one country.
I used to work in Hawaii and my best friend is Japanese America. She was born on Maui and her parents were from Nagasaki. Remember August 6 1945? I happened to be at her house on that day and her family was passing around what was left of a melted roof tile from their family house so that the new generation would not forget.
Wars are ugly on all side and history is always revised by the winners. It is interesting to hear both sides and then you realize there are no good guys .

I hear what you all are saying,that said, I'm glad the Axis Powers didn't win that war,that would have really sucked.

Aside from the many people killed during the bombing, those that suffered most were the AJA (American of Japanese Ancestry) living in the islands. They had homes, families, and businesses and many were grabbed off the streets and out of their homes and businesses and taken to internment camps then sent off to various states to start over. Many times alone.

I was but a glint in my daddy's eye at the time but my parents were there and stayed in the islands throughout the war and for the rest of their lives.

I wrote a book about them, their early days in Hawaii (1936 - 1945), including their memories of the war and ensuing blackout, with pictures and letters that had been written home.

See it here:

TAKE NEXT BOAT. GET MARRIED. NOT COMING BACK. LOVE LARRY

Trailrunner:

There seems to be a disconnect between your avitar photo and your photo on Amazon?

Imagine that. lol

hound dog wrote:[quote="seisdedos"]Imperial powers sending their young men to either protect or procure empires. The whole "protecting our freedom" bullshit is tiresome. Wars are fought for one reason, money.

Or, in the case of the Japanese Empire vs. the U.S. Empire fighting for control of the Pacific territory, which was about money as well but less easily negotiated. Two decadent imperial powers determined to subjugate the Pacific and China. The attack on Pearl Harbor may have proven a brilliant tactical move if the Japanese had had good intelligence and known to attack when most of the U.S. fleet was in port and had had the good sense to complete their mission and occupy Hawaii. The Japanese command was shortsighted and failed to follow through.

History is written by the winners and if that were not so, Kissinger would have been indicted for war crimes in Indochina and would be rotting in jail today. [/quote]



Zed says below

The Japanese screwed up in terms of targets at Pearl Harbor anyhoo. They should have blown up all the oil storage. They didn't and that would have
put an end to our Carriers going back out. Blowing up the pacific supply of Aviation fuel would have helped them also. They destroyed neither and worried
about obsolete WW1 battleships and as said before missed the only three or four aircraft carriers. Yamamoto knew he blew it than and there.

Read Tolands "The rising sun" The rise and fall of the Japanese empire. 1936 to end of war. He went over after the end of the war and interviewed all
of the players. One of the few people to ask the Japanese about the war and to write about it. Must read for history buffs. He also wrote one of the
best Hitler books.
Z

Trailrunner wrote:Aside from the many people killed during the bombing, those that suffered most were the AJA (American of Japanese Ancestry) living in the islands. They had homes, families, and businesses and many were grabbed off the streets and out of their homes and businesses and taken to internment camps then sent off to various states to start over. Many times alone.

I was but a glint in my daddy's eye at the time but my parents were there and stayed in the islands throughout the war and for the rest of their lives.

I wrote a book about them, their early days in Hawaii (1936 - 1945), including their memories of the war and ensuing blackout, with pictures and letters that had been written home.

See it here:

TAKE NEXT BOAT. GET MARRIED. NOT COMING BACK. LOVE LARRY

You can still see one of the camps in California. It is located on the west side of US 395 about 20/30 miles or so South of Bishop. A truly horrible
place to take folks use to a moderate California climate. It was dusty, cold, windy, and snowy for 8 months of the year.

Z

I have been there, Zed, you described it perfectly. Have you been to Angel Island out in the bay? Very historical relocation center there, museums, buildings, old photos, etc. One of the better places, albeit so isolated.

Certainly a knee-jerk US response to the bombing.

seisdedos wrote: Japan had no desire nor the capability of denying Americans their freedom.

That's true and besides they were too busy raping and pillaging their way across Asia.

To claim to know history & state that the Japanese were not trying to take our freedom is irrational at the least. To state that the war was fought for money continues the same irrational.
I suppose the next statement will be that Hitler was correct in trying to create a superior race & should have been helped, rather than eradicated.
Sounds like Chamberlain is on this website.

Sundown, The Japanese were attempting to expand their empire in Asia. The USA stopped selling oil and scrap metal to them, both of which were needed for their militaray machine. They reponded by attacking Pearl Harbor. There was no intent on their part to take over the USA, they only hoped to slow us down. Apparently you're the one who doesn't know the history.

sundown wrote:To claim to know history & state that the Japanese were not trying to take our freedom is irrational at the least. To state that the war was fought for money continues the same irrational.
I suppose the next statement will be that Hitler was correct in trying to create a superior race & should have been helped, rather than eradicated.
Sounds like Chamberlain is on this website.

Come on, wise one. Tell us which freedoms they desired to deny us? The freedom to exploit East Asian people for our own profit?
To deny the war was over money is asinine and plainly moronic. Ever heard of the Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere? I doubt you have. What about Hitler's lebensraum? I suppose that all of that territory was solely for shits and grins and not for economic exploitation?
And just for grins, what would the world have been like these past 60-70 years if the Axis would have won? For starters there would have been no Soviet Union and therefore no Cold War. Would Mao have been able to take over in China? A Korean War? Vietnam? There are many different possibilities.

seisdedos wrote:
And just for grins, what would the world have been like these past 60-70 years if the Axis would have won? For starters there would have been no Soviet Union and therefore no Cold War. Would Mao have been able to take over in China? A Korean War? Vietnam? There are many different possibilities.

You're kidding right?
A world dominated by Nazis,no gracias!!

viajero wrote:

seisdedos wrote:
And just for grins, what would the world have been like these past 60-70 years if the Axis would have won? For starters there would have been no Soviet Union and therefore no Cold War. Would Mao have been able to take over in China? A Korean War? Vietnam? There are many different possibilities.

You're kidding right?
A world dominated by Nazis,no gracias!!

I never said that was my preference. I simply asked "what if"? Try not to read something into it that wasn't even there. Hitler didn't want war with the US (or Great Britian or even France and other Northern European countries) so the argument that we fought WWII to protect OUR freedom is BS. Same goes for Japan. Why would they want problems with the US? It all goes back to protecting the economic interests (i.e. money) of their country. The only effect it would have had on "freedom" for the US is it would have built more difficult to enforce our own foreign hegemony or ecomomic imperialism.

Well put, Seis.

Some folks should really take a closer look at history, and forget about patriotic slogans.

My German would have been a lot better than it is now but the Nazis would have had their butts kicked out from most places eventually, it is the fate of empires, they rise and then fall...
No Soviet Union, no Israel and so on.
Fascinating subject to reflect upon.