December 7th, 1941

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
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I don't hear much about Pearl Harbor anymore. Used to always contact Dad on this date.

Semper Fi, Guy
 
A day that should live in infamy. My great fear is that the Chinese Communists may yet try such a strike to remove the USA as an obstacle to their plan for world dominion, and the present occupant of the White House will have no response.
 
My Uncle Bud Lynch shows up on some of the news real footage, he and a couple of others have set up a browning 30 cal. And were able to fight back. Later he drove landing craft on several of the major landings. Family history is he had every one of those boats shot out from under him. He survived the war but did not survive emotionally when my cousin died in Vietnam.
 
A day that should live in infamy. My great fear is that the Chinese Communists may yet try such a strike to remove the USA as an obstacle to their plan for world dominion, and the present occupant of the White House will have no response.
He will wag his finger and say Don’t”
 
All the old timers I knew that were in WWII are gone now. They never spoke much about the war but they liked to tell stories of their shenanigans when they served. One guy owned a used car lot that my uncle started working at when he was 15. He ended up buying the place and ran it until this year when he just sold it in his 70’s. Except for a stint in the Army it’s the only place he ever worked. The original owner, Freddie, was a Navy man and if I remember right he was at Pearl Harbor when it happened. I do know he lost a lot of buddies and had a deep hatred for many years. So much to the point if anyone pulled into his car lot driving a Japanese import he would run them off. Unfortunately I fear that old saying about history repeating itself may come true in my lifetime.

Not just this country but the world owes a debt of gratitude to the greatest generation that fought in WWII, along with those that supported the efforts on the home front.
 
Dad always talked about him trying to enlist and they told him his eye were too bad. A year later they bombed Pearl, and all of a sudden he was plenty good enough for a draft card and government issue glasses :).....Ended up taking shrapnel in the thigh and elbow on D-Day. Kept the shrapnel in a cigar box until he passed in 2000.
 
I was three years and four months old on Dec 7, 1941. Too young really to recognize what happened but old enough to see how my parents reacted and were quietly talking. By the time I was four, I knew we were at war but really didn't know what war was.
What I do remember was the air raid sirens going at ungodly hours of the night and wardens with flashlights knocking on doors if they saw a glimmer of light. To this day, if I hear an air raid type siren, even if it's in a movie the hairs on the back of my neck would rise up. Usually when they did one of those drills, the shore batteries at at Ft. Funston would bang off a few rounds so we never knew if it was a drill or the real deal. FWIW, our home was in the Sunset district of San Francisco and was just short of a mile from the beach.
Paul B.
 
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