Pearl Harbor

[Barb Gordon]

Well 61 years ago today, Pearl Harbor in Oahu was up in flames. Not too cheery a thought, huh? I don't want this turning into some random I hate Japanese, Japanese suck and are evil thread. Far from it. The Japanese culture deserves an immense amount of respect..but I'm veering off topic. What do you think about the events of Pearl Habor in general, from either side. Have you ever gone to Pearl Harbor, do you even plan to? If you have, what was it like for you? Boring, scary, exciting, heart wrenching? Do you even know what happened? Or is it just that day that people talk about for whatever reasons, but that you could care less about?

~Barb

[ZorBrak]

Pearl Harbor was quite a sad event...I went to Hawaii a few years ago and there were ex-Japanese soldiers there asking for forgiveness. I felt so bad for them and then these fat rednecks were getting all up in their face taking pictures. :mad:

[Moonbay]

Pearl Harbor was truly a sad event. Nowadays people just kind of forget about it, but they shouldn't. Us Americans bad memories, hm? ^.^ I've never been, but I'm planning on visiting the 'ole harbor in January.

[ccffan01]

The event that sparked our involvement in the war.....

[The Dork Knight]

My great uncle Bill wassupposed to be sent to Pearl Harbor. He ended up not going however.

- Foley Is Good

[Barb Gordon]

I went there this past summer myself. I'd been looking to go for years. I'm an avid history nut, and this was one moment in history that completely grabbed my attention. I must have at least half a dozen books on the subject, and have watched countless documentaries concerning it. It was really intense to go there. The most memorable thing for me had to be the oil still seeping out. It wa frankly the most touching thing ever, and the eeriest. My cousin's grandfather, who passed away a year ago, had been at Pearl Harbor. I could have kicked myself for not knowing something like that and talking with him before he did. I beleive he had been on the Oklahoma.

~Barb

[Pilmedium]

Although sad, it was more important than many other "tragedies." I have not been near there, and do not have any plans to visit.

[Sandro]

I really do want to see Pearl Harbor but that's a little bit later in life (I don't have the money right now). I also want to see the WTC site.

My great uncle Bill wassupposed to be sent to Pearl Harbor. He ended up not going however.

Yeesh, lucky for him.

[Ajax]

Originally posted by ZorBrak
Pearl Harbor was quite a sad event...I went to Hawaii a few years ago and there were ex-Japanese soldiers there asking for forgiveness. I felt so bad for them and then these fat rednecks were getting all up in their face taking pictures. :mad:
I don't know why the Japanese should have anymore guilt for what they did . Yeah they did bomb Pearl Habor, but they killed soldiers at least , on the other hand the US dropped two a-bombs on them and killed over 100,000 lives and most were civilians. I'd say were all even here. A truly sad day indeed and as Roosevelt said "A day which will live in infamy".

[Outlander00]

This might sound sick and twisted, but seeing as how I am a war buff interested in tactics... It was one of the greatest performed moves in military history, and ALMOST went off without any kind of warning (the Japanese fleet was detected, but it was too late to warn Pearl Harbor). Also, it was a pivitol moment in US history because of what ultimate outcomes that occured.

since my father is part of the VFW (since he was at Vietnam), I've heard stories from those who took part in WW II, and one of the gentleman had a story about Pearl Harbor. He was stationed out there and he had woken up early because he was going to get in a round of Golf in before going on duty and he could only get a 8:00 AM tee time (The course was right next to the base). As he was in mid swing, he heard this explosion behind him that ruined his shot. He turned to see smoke and thought someone caught a building on fire while barbequing something, until another explosion occured. The only thing he has to say about that day was that he hit the ball in a sand trap... that and that he lost his tee time :p

[Ajax]

Originally posted by Outlander00
This might sound sick and twisted, but seeing as how I am a war buff interested in tactics... It was one of the greatest performed moves in military history, and ALMOST went off without any kind of warning (the Japanese fleet was detected, but it was too late to warn Pearl Harbor). Also, it was a pivitol moment in US history because of what ultimate outcomes that occured.



Actually that didn't sound sick or twisted. It was one of the most brilliant moves I've have every read about. The General of the Japanese in the Pacific (I forget his name) was a genuis. We were lucky are aircraft carrieres weren't destoryed or the U.S would of been up ****s creek without a paddle. And if the Japanese would of gone one more time around.....

[TimTwoFace]

Originally posted by ccffan01
The event that sparked our involvement in the war.....

True, but what makes no sense to me (and thus makes me mad) is how the US didn't even get involved with WW2 for the first two years. It wasn't until they were attacked that they wanted to get involved. Go figure.

Anyway, it's still a sad day, but here's another question - why would Japan be stupid enough to bomb the US? Really, looking at it from the "axis of evil" standpoint, that wasn't a smart idea at all. They were fortunate to keep a moderately well-armed country out of the war - that's one less enemy to defeat - yet they go out of their way to give them an open invitation to get involved? It doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure Hitler wasn't too proud of his allies doing that, either.

Oh well, no matter how you look at it, Pearl Harbour was an important day in shaping American history - and, arguably, world history, too.

-Tim

[Barb Gordon]

One word Tim, isolationism. The US was fine being inclosed within itself, not worring about what happened to everything else outside of it. No way they wanted to invest into another war. But when they did, they did it well. Pearl Habor was awesome. I mean really, the actual future is incredible...it's just plain cool. Although it's pure destruction and terror, men being burned alive with oil covering their bodies, it's still so eye catching. It's a sight one never wants to see, but at the same time, you almost have this inner awe concerning it when you're seeing it.

~Barb

[Ajax]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
True, but what makes no sense to me (and thus makes me mad) is how the US didn't even get involved with WW2 for the first two years. It wasn't until they were attacked that they wanted to get involved. Go figure.

Anyway, it's still a sad day, but here's another question - why would Japan be stupid enough to bomb the US? Really, looking at it from the "axis of evil" standpoint, that wasn't a smart idea at all. They were fortunate to keep a moderately well-armed country out of the war - that's one less enemy to defeat - yet they go out of their way to give them an open invitation to get involved? It doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure Hitler wasn't too proud of his allies doing that, either.

Oh well, no matter how you look at it, Pearl Harbour was an important day in shaping American history - and, arguably, world history, too.

-Tim

Yeah the US really like to stay out of world affairs back then. It took them a while to get involved in the first world war and the only reason the US did was because of the Germans sinking US civilian ships.
why would Japan be stupid enough to bomb the US?
That seems kind of ignorant but yet has some truth. This wasn't the US in the in 90's, we weren't a world power back in 1942. We were barly recovering from the great depression. But I remember what the Japanese General (still can't remember his name) said "we have awoken a sleeping giant. If the Japanese would of know what the outcome would of been when they got the US involved they would quickly changed stragety.

[Krayenhoff]

That seems kind of ignorant but yet has some truth. This wasn't the US in the in 90's, we weren't a world power back in 1942. We were barly recovering from the great depression. But I remember what the Japanese General (still can't remember his name) said "we have awoken a sleeping giant. If the Japanese would of know what the outcome would of been when they got the US involved they would quickly changed stragety.

His name was Yamamoto.

The Japanese bombed the US because we were angering them. We put an oil embargo on them and we froze their assets in the USA. They knew that the next step was to declare war on them, so they took a pre-emptive strike. They had no choice; either way, they were going to face off against us, they might as well have gotten in the first shot.

If they had known what was going to happen when the war was over, they wouldn't have become the barbaric imperialists that they were. Unless they really had no scruples about being nearly annihilated and having a couple of nuclear bombs dropped on them.

But that goes the same for any loser in war, doesn't it?

[Mackenzie Rainelle]

The Japanese knew they couldn't actually BEAT the US, but they figured that if they could destroy most of the Pacific Fleet in one blow, then perhaps the US would leave them alone. But the carriers, which they wanted to destroy the most, were out to sea, and only two of the battleships attacked were unsalvagable.

That's also the reason for the way they fought on the islands later. They wanted to make it as costly as possible for the US, hoping the US government would decide the war just wasn't worth the effort and pull for a peace treaty. Unfortunately, they sadly underestimated the resources the US had under it's control.