Today in History

nighthawk · Post by **nighthawk** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:03 am

December 7 1941 (67 years ago) Pearl Harbor is attacked.

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:52 am

I was watching some of the documentary footage on the History channel which showed some of the actual footage from that morning.
It was very shocking that so many people died in such a short period of time.

They also went into detail about FDR's presidential terms, and how he tried to keep the country out of war as best he could, which really pissed off the rest of the allies.
I think that he's probably my fav persident out of all of them. He was obviously way before my time, but there was a charisma about him, and he exihibited a "common man" approach to his tenure in office.
He battled alot of personal demons in his own life, but he did the best he could to run the country.
I think he was the first and last president to serve 4 terms. There hasnt been one since him, I know that, and I think it had something to do with him if I remember correctly?

Hard to believe that it has been 67 years.
There aren't many vets left from that war are there?

PanzerFaust · Post by **PanzerFaust** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:03 pm

When my dad was in the Marines he was an airplane mechanic attached to a fighter squadron out of Miramar (Todays Top Gun School)

They were stationed at EWA field at Pearl Harbor about a year after the attack... I asked him if he went to see any of the sites...

He was like, sites? Hell it was just piles of scrap laying around that the Navy didn't want you seeing cause it was bad for morale...

he says he spent most of his free time surfing on Diamond head... hehe now that I cannot imagine... My old man in 1942 duds with some probably goofy looking surf board.. hehe.....

The only pics he brought back are ones of him with Hula girls too.. I always jokingly tell him he was keeping America safe from Grass Skirts and Don Ho...

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:37 pm

I had a uncle who was there - My Great grandmothers brother - He used to tell me stories about it. They were quite interesting to say the least.

J Michaels · Post by **J Michaels** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:14 pm

metalchurch wrote:I think he was the first and last president to serve 4 terms. There hasnt been one since him, I know that, and I think it had something to do with him if I remember correctly?

Yep - FDR is the only President to serve more than 2 terms, and the presidential term limit of 2 was passed shortly after he left office (22nd Amendment - Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 1951.)

Some interesting info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sec ... nstitution

Most of it is cited, so at least reasonably reliable.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:14 pm

I just buried my grandfather on Saturday. He was on a carrier in WWII, and fought in the Pacific Theatre. He never really spoke about the war, and he would change the television channel when a war movie came on. We all pretty much surmised from this that he had seen action and the horrors of war. Still, from as far back as I remember, he never spoke badly about Japan or the Japanese, despite them being on the opposing side.

The most poignant part of the funeral service was the military section in which Taps was played, and my grandmother was given the American flag. At that moment, even though he never spoke much of the war or his tour of duty, I knew intrinsically knew that my grandfather had served his country with honor.

witchhunt · Post by **witchhunt** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:34 pm

f.sciarrillo wrote:I had a uncle who was there - My Great grandmothers brother - He used to tell me stories about it. They were quite interesting to say the least.

If you want to hear some stories, there's a 6 disc documentary called The War by Ken Burns. To anyone who has any interest in WW2, this is a must see. I got it from Netflix.
To bassist_25, sorry to hear about your pap. He has my utmost respect.

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:01 pm

Yes, Ken Burns is great. I loved his Documentary on the Civil War. Band of Brothers was a great show also.

Sorry to hear about your grandfather, Paul.

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:05 pm

bassist_25 wrote:I just buried my grandfather on Saturday. He was on a carrier in WWII, and fought in the Pacific Theatre. He never really spoke about the war, and he would change the television channel when a war movie came on. We all pretty much surmised from this that he had seen action and the horrors of war. Still, from as far back as I remember, he never spoke badly about Japan or the Japanese, despite them being on the opposing side.

The most poignant part of the funeral service was the military section in which Taps was played, and my grandmother was given the American flag. At that moment, even though he never spoke much of the war or his tour of duty, I knew intrinsically knew that my grandfather had served his country with honor.

sorry for your loss paul. taps gets me everytime at a funeral service.

whitedevilone · Post by **whitedevilone** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:08 am

My Grandfather also belonged to the Last Great Generation.Our history is truely slipping away.Salute

mistikalvalkrie · Post by **mistikalvalkrie** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:52 am

Paul, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss....
I had a similar experience about 2 years ago when my grandfather was buried. He wasn't at Pearl Harbor but apparently he was a pilot in WWII and earned a purple heart and two bronze stars. I was never brave enough to ask him about anything from the war....its kind of my own loss really.

in closing...FDR is a tool who ushered in a new era of shit against the American public especially and including Pearl Harbor