Any DU'ers here who remember Dec. 7, 1941 personally?

[Blue_Roses]

This era in history has always facinated me. My parents fought in this war and my mother who was a nurse in the Army during this time, still has trouble talking about it without tearing up.

My admiration and respect for this humble generation has grown 10 fold as I have gotten older. So many WWII veterans are dying now and to hold on to this piece of history through their eyes is a keepsake.

[NJCher]

1. I'd be interested in answers to this question, too

And also to see comparison/contrast about the aftermath re 9/11.


Cher

[ladjf]

2. I was only six years old at the time and don't remember the news

of the attack. I do remember a song from the era "Just Remember Pearl Harbor", a rather bland little march style ditty.

[KitchenWitch]

3. this life or a past one j/k

[mark414]

4. they really were the greatest generation

and i don't care what anyone says otherwise

they made it through the depression only to fight one of the greatest wars in history, and never once complained about it. personally, my two grandfathers who i am lucky enough to still have today are two of the greatest men i have ever met. they are filled with love and devotion and respect and humility and there's something that's just so honorable about them that you don't see in people anymore. my mother's father wasn't in the service; he was in school and my grandmother was pregnant, but my dad's father was in the navy and was on a ship in the pacific on his way to the action when the surrender was announced, so he never saw any combat either. but they are still great men that make up but a small portion of an even greater generation.

their kids, on the other hand though...yikes (the baby boomers in general, not my parents or aunts and uncles!)

on edit: i'd also like to give a shout out to two of my great grandfathers, who fought in World War I and came back home to raise a family through the Depression, and everyone else who raised their families through the Depression and sent them off to war. I don't know where we'd be without either of the generations...

[Blue_Roses]

5. Yeah, I know what you mean, especially about the baby boomers

--spoiled and selfish. I think this generation knew how hard things were to come by in those days and appreciated the things that they earned and received. This is missing alot in today's times.

[mark414]

6. i think that's part of the reason

the Depression/WW2 generation had such a hard life that they worked their asses off to make sure that their kids wouldn't have the same hard life. so in general, the baby boomers became spoiled and expected everything to come easy for them; from there it snowballed into gen X, but i'd like to think that my generation, while we still have the "me-first" attitude as a whole, i think we're also starting to take a look at the bigger picture. after all, young people are more likely to volunteer than any other age group, and we're the ONLY age group where kerry won. through surveys and polls, younger people are also more tolerant of LGBT people and LGBT rights, and race doesn't seem to play as big a dividing role as it has in the past. but we'll see what happens in 20 years once we start taking office.

[Blue_Roses]

9. I agree and you said it

the "me-first" attitude is what we see now. I do think that many parents who went through the Depression didn't want to see their children go through this tough time, so yes, spoil them they did.

Things just didn't come easy for them and to know that they would have a meal on the table at night was exciting. My mother said she had her clothes made out of flour bags. So many humble stories.

[Carl Brennan]

19. BS. Who was it that wrote that book pandering to the "Greatest

Generation"? I always thought that was a great marketing strategy: Tell a group of people they are the greatest. :eyes:

I think most of peoples perceptions are filled with the natural awe that comes from a child's larger than life memories of their father or grandfather.

What I hate about all this greatest generation talk is how neatly it was packaged. The idea that the WWII crowd came home and got over it. Bullshit. I had 6 uncles who were in combat and everyone was a drunk, though I thought they were the greatest and I loved them.

This is not to say they weren't brave, but they were no differant than any other generation.

You people are deluding yourselves IMO.

[Blue_Roses]

22. Nobody's saying they didn't come back

screwed up or with problems. My dad was "shell-shocked" while he was over seas and my mother had three miscarriages because of the malaria she got in the South Pacific. To delude the fact that they had just as many problems as the rest of us isn't what we're saying.

However, this generation IS different and DOES humble themselves in a way that many in this generation don't. Your post makes my point.:eyes:

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to come along and trash a "feel good for the moment" thread. Must take a lot of energy to remain so negative.

[Carl Brennan]

26. It isn't feel good and I resent the hell out of you calling my character

into question for voicing my opinion. You confuse humility with docility.

This greatest generation crap is just a way to denigrate the generation that followed. There was nothing special about that generation. Personally I think that they were very naive about the world they lived in. My uncles alluded to this often. They dropped the ball bigtime after the war on letting the CIA take control. It was all flag waiving glory.

Most of what we know, outside of personal contact, was manufactured Hollywood and MSM hype to make the "lesser" generation feel somewhat inadequate, unpatriotic, etc. Well the most patriotic people I know or have known were those who stood up and protested wars.

Again, I am not belittling what the WWII generation did I am just saying that there are heroes of all kinds and the WWII generation was like the Civil War generation or like the Vietnam War generation: they met the challenges they were presented with.

[DrWeird]

24. Bullshit.

This is the same generation that says they fought for freedom and liberty and then came back and kept segregation the norm for another twenty years.

They're the same generation that sent their kids off to fight and die for a lie.

[readmylips]

7. December 7th, My wedding Day...

too young, too stupid, too uninformed. Would have been my 35th wedding anniversary today. Divorced after two kids, 8 years of abuse and the religious crap that kept me trapped. I freed myself, finished my college education with a degree in business. Today my two children are lawyers, and I gave myself a chance to heal and reward myself with a good partner for life. My second hub is a great human being. On December 7th, I began my own personal war.

[RebelOne]

15. It is the anniversary of my divorce. n/t

[Chef]

8. Pearl Harbor

NPR opened today saying that "Sixty-three years ago today, Americans woke up to the following..." then played a news recording. Of course, for most Mainland Americans, they didn't wake up to the news. My parents were at the movies (Sunday matinee) and when they came out the news boys were selling the extra editions about the attack. My father was too old to serve and also worked for the railroad so, he didn't go. My mother went to work in the Pratt Whitney aircraft engine plant.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Pratt and Whitney ... that would be in Hartford, CT?

I read that and think about my own family. I have no male relatives from The Greatest Generation on either side of my family who did not serve in WWII. And the women who also served ... working at Norden (bomb sights) in Norwalk CT, at Chance Vaught (aircraft) in New Jersey, at Lycoming (aircraft engines) in Stratford, CT.

They all served and I am so proud to be their offspring.

[SmokingJacket]

10. My grandfather was there...

his boat was hit but only lightly damaged. He described running onto the deck in his underwear to see what happened.

He was killed later in the war, unfortunately.

Can you imagine how different this world would be if Hitler had never happened? All those millions of people who died during the war wouldn't have...

[Blue_Roses]

12. the reality is

this war brought us out of the Great Depression. As sad as it is to think of all those who died, this war brought us into a new era--something that I see history repeat time and time again:)

Many people were happy to be back to work and everyone chipped in to do their part.

[SmokingJacket]

18. I'm unable to put a smiley face on the deaths of millions.

Sorry.

Certainly we could have figured a way out of the Depression with or without Hitler.

[Blue_Roses]

21. the smiley face wasn't for the many who died

it was for the fact that we do survive catastrophe and have for years. Give me a break:eyes: This is a thread for those who remember that day and experienced it.

[candy]

11. I do! We were at my aunt's for Sunday dinner and------

when the news came on that's all the adults talked about for the rest of the day.

My cousin and I,who were 9,were only concerned about Christmas.

We kept asking the adults "Will there be a Christmas if we are at war?"

Being a child here in the US was really something when WWII was going on.

[ladyrae416]

17. Remembering Pearl Harbor

I was 2 months away from my 6th birthday but I do remember the grown-ups huddled around out wooden console radio listening to President Roosevelt speaking. (At that time, it seemed to me that FDR had always been, and always would be, President. Also, that Joe Louis always had, and always would be, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, lol.) Time moves so slowly when you're that young.

I remember Victory Gardens (we all had them, even in the city), rationing of gas, rubber, rayon stockings (I think they were rayon; don't think we had nylon then), certain foods like sugar and I don't know what else. I just remember everyone was willing to sacrifice and do what they could for our servicemen and our country. I remember collecting tin cans for the military and also milkweed pods, which they used the silk inside the pods to make parachutes. We were all so proud to do these things.

I remember Gold Star mothers, altho I don't remember what the gold star signified - sons in the service, or sons that were killed in service.

I also remember air raid warnings and blackouts. They were soooo scary to me! My dad (who served his country in WWI), was an air raid warden and would go around with a helmet on, knocking on people's doors who weren't totally complying with the blackout.

I love my county and I am a proud patriotic democrat and it hurts so much to hear what these neo-cons say about us. They don't have the foggiest idea of patriotism. I miss the Unitied States of America and I want it back!

[candy]

23. Boy,reading your post brought back memories----

I remember the coupons that were needed for food. A neighbor of ours thought she had thrown her's out with the garbage(the wet,yucky,garbage) and the women in the neighborhood all pitched in and helped her find them in a maggot infested garbage can.

The air raid drills were scary----I can still remember the wails of the sirens and the "all clear".

We lived about 2 miles from an arsenal and all the windows were painted black so they could work 24/7.The top 1/2 of the automobile headlights were also painted black.

I don't remember the milkweed pods,but,being city kids there probably weren't too many around.We did collect all the other things you mentioned.

Gold stars were for dead servicemen,blue stars were for those in the service. My brother and I used to count them when we went anyplace on the bus.

[RebelOne]

14. I was only 2 years old at the time, but my mother told me

that I said, "Oh, poor Pearl" because I thought Pearl Harbor was a girl's name.

[donsu]

16. we were glued to the radio for any scrap of news (no TV then)

and in the following yrs. we watched the war news at the movies. They would show the movies taken by war photogs and reporters, before giving the coming attractions and then the movie.

the war scenes were not edited for goryness. kids, adults, we all saw the truth of war.

[candy]

25. Yep,the ole Movietone News every saturday afternoon----

And you are right,nothing was edited. I can still remember sitting there when they showed the first films coming out of the concentration camps.I was almost 13 and the war had started just after I turned 9. It was all we knew,but we were lucky.

[sherilocks]

20. I was very young, but the reaction of the

people around me was so severe, that I remember it. Pearl Harbor was all anyone talked about in my home and on the streets in Brooklyn. Would my father be drafted and go away? Would the bombs fall on my me? What was happening to the relatives in Europe? The discussions went on endlessly. Unfortunately, I didn't speak until I was three, so I just listened and absorped all the angst around me.