Pearl Harbor and 9/11 ... have we forgotten?

Today is December 7th ... Pearl Harbor Day.

December 7, 1941 ... 72 years ago America suffered the worst attack ever on our soil at the hands of the Japanese who conducted a sneak attack on our Naval base in Hawaii. It was, in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "a date which will live in infamy."

Or so we thought.

Sixty years later, on September 11, 2001, America came under an even larger attack on our soil and it wasn't on an island in the South Pacific. It was right here on the mainland.  America was attacked in New York City and Pennsylvania and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. More people died that day than in 1941. The big difference was that they were civilians.

Have Americans forgotten Pearl Harbor? Most who are alive to remember are now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Many of the survivors have passed away ... the rest are increasingly in frail health.

How on God's green earth do we expect people to remember Pearl Harbor, an event that happened 72 years ago, when many have already forgotten the terror from 9/11 that occurred just a short 12 years ago? Have Americans lost their resolve? Their will? Their courage? Their honor? Their willingness to stand up for the home front?

Have we forgotten how to pull together in the face of adversity and in the face of the rest of the world? Have we allowed the worldview, politically correct elitists to so tie our hands so that we aren't even willing to stand up anymore for what we believe in?

Roy Martin, former President of the Navy League's Richmond chapter, wrote an historical background to the Pearl Harbor attack in his article, "Pearl Harbor Remembered: Attack pulled the U.S. Into WW II," published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 12/6/06, and commented:

"Sadly, too many Americans today don't recognize, much less remember, what happened, nor how it changed our lives, our country, and the world forever."

I believe that statement could also be applied to 9/11.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, former head of the British internal security agency M15, addressed terrorism in a speech in 2006 where she stressed the continued worldwide terrorist threat, and warned that it began well before 9/11/01:

"We now know that the first al-Qaida-related plot against the U.K. was the one we discovered and disrupted in November 2000 in Birmingham. A British citizen is currently serving a long prison sentence for plotting to detonate a large bomb...."

She said M15 knew of 200 terrorist networks consisting of over 1,600 identified individuals who were actively engaged in terrorism throughout the world and added:

"In the years after 9/11, with atrocities taking place in Madrid, Casablanca, Bali, Istanbul, and elsewhere, terrorists plotted to mount a string of attacks in the U.K., but were disrupted. This run of domestic success was interrupted tragically in London in July 2005. Since then, the combined efforts of [British intelligence agencies] have thwarted a further five major conspiracies in the U.K., saving many hundreds (possibly even thousands) of lives...."

But in the U.S. we hear the cynics and doubters who beat the constant negative drum against surveillance of suspected terrorists, against our military, and against America, yet terrorist attacks take place around the world and attempts at destruction continue on American soil.

My parents were part of that World War II greatest generation that stepped forward to defend the homeland in 1941, ordinary Americans who went to war. Many did not return. My mother's brother was killed in France while serving with the U.S. Army. My Navy father was on the USS Wisconsin in the South Pacific. Americans who remained at home did their part with victory gardens, rationing, and rallying the patriotic spirit of the country. Americans as a whole sacrificed for the common good.

The Greatest Generation is now aging ... grandparents who were young men and women during the years of 1941-45 and who are now passing away at the rate of over 1,000 per day. They worked as a team ... they helped preserve freedom for the world.

Pearl Harbor and 9/11 ... have we forgotten?

Originally published in the Washington Examiner by Lynn R. Mitchell.

Home school day at Norfolk's Nauticus ... spend a day by the sea!

Last year over 1,200 home schoolers participated in Home School Day at Norfolk's Nauticus, an event co-sponsored by Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV), an association of families throughout the Commonwealth who educate their children at home.

This year the event will take place on Wednesday, January 21, from 10 am until 5 pm, with workshops, touch-tanks, exploring sea creatures, and my favorite -- walking the decks of the battleship USS Wisconsin, the ship my dad was stationed on in the Pacific during World War II. Now that's living history!

Adult admission is $10.95 and includes up to two free children's admissions. Additional children are $7 each; children 3 and under are free.

Register by Thursday, January 15, 2009.

Home Educators Association of Virginia ... working with Virginia's home schoolers since 1984.

USS Wisconsin Norfolk reunion this summer

My dad served on the USS Wisconsin in 1944-46 during the fiercest South Pacific battles of World War II. Dad has been dead for 33 years. The USS Wisconsin has since been retired to Norfolk.

A reunion for her crew is held every two years. This summer it will be held August 26-31, 2008, in Norfolk.

I want to walk in my late dad's footsteps ... I will be there.

BATTLESHIP WISCONSIN ASSOCIATION - 11TH BIENNIAL REUNION at the MARRIOTT NORFOLK WATERSIDE HOTEL - NORFOLK, VIRGINIA - AUGUST 26-31, 2008

1988-2008 20th Anniversary of our Association

The USS Wisconsin Association Biennial Reunion will take place at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott on August 26-31, 2008. Rooms have been blocked. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations for this event. The group rate will be honored, as long as rooms are available, until July 24th. Be sure to book your room(s) early!

There are many attractions in this seaport city of Norfolk, to name a few, Nauticus (The National Maritime Center), Town Point Park, the Cannonball Trail and oh yes, that magnificent battleship, the USS Wisconsin BB-64. Without a doubt the best attraction around.

So come on former crew members, mama is waiting to see you once again, please don't disappoint her. She desperately needs to see her 1940s, 1950s and 1980s/90s children. Bring the grandchildren, she will love that.

We will honor their service and never forget....

This Page is Dedicated to All of our Deceased Shipmates

Our shipmates will always be remembered as Battleship Sailors and Battleship Marines and will live on as part of the USS Wisconsin History.

A beautiful Memorial Service is held at every reunion for our USS Wisconsin shipmates who have passed on since our last reunion. Each name is read aloud, a flower is placed by loved ones or friends into memorial wreaths, the ship's bell tolls, taps are played, and there is a 21 gun salute. After the service the wreaths are usually put out to sea.

This is quite an impressive and moving ceremony.

Be sure to read the Roll of Honor ... my dad and his best friend from Roanoke are listed.

USS Wisconsin ... to walk in my late dad's footsteps....

Update: The USS Wisconsin 2008 reunion will be held August 26-31, 2008.

The battleship USS Wisconsin, commissioned during World War II when she saw action in the South Pacific, and then put back into battle for the Korean War in 1951 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991, has called Norfolk, Virginia, home the past seven years. The Old Gray Lady, BB-64, is mothballed at the Nauticus Maritime Museum on Norfolk's waterfront, the largest and last of the great battleships built in this country, replaced by aircraft carriers. When driving into the city, she is massive and impressive in her oceanfront dock across the street from downtown Norfolk.

I have wanted to visit the Wisconsin since she moored in Norfolk in 2000. Until now only the deck area was open to visitors. However, the city of Norfolk will soon take ownership from the Navy and will begin charging admission but, at the same time, will offer access to more areas of the ship.

In an article in Sunday's Richmond Times Dispatch, Norfolk officials told of their plans for the battleship:

... the city plans to reopen to visitors the Wisconsin's wardroom and some adjoining quarters, and maybe one of the ship's massive gun turrets.

The Wisconsin's 16-inch guns were the largest size ever mounted on a U.S. warship, capable of hurling shells 23 miles...."

Those 16-inch guns bombarded Okinawa during World War II.

The 16-inch guns were what my dad manned as a 20-year-old sailor during World War II. He shared stories when I was young ... but not many stories because that generation did not often discuss the war. The opportunity to hear more was snuffed out in 1975 when he passed away.

I have a framed photo hanging on my living room wall of the Wisconsin, given to Dad when he left the Navy, with details of the ship's record during the war. He was a Seaman First Class; his battle ribbons are there along with the ship's record of three Japanese planes shot down while in the South Pacific.

On this blog's right sidebar is the link to the Wisconsin's website. I wrote about her last year while remembering my dad on the anniversary of his birth.

And so I hope to visit the Wisconsin. I want to walk in my dad's footsteps. I want to see the 16-inch guns I heard about in my youth. I want to see the deck and interior of the place he called home all those months while away at sea. I want to touch the walls he touched ... I want to see what he saw ... I want to walk the deck where he walked. I want to experience the Wisconsin....

More information can be found at:
- Pilot Online - February 2007
- Pilot Online - October 2006