Pearl Harbor Day--Called my dad like I do every year.

[knitter4democracy]

My dad was there. He was six years old and playing outside with his sisters when the planes came over and they started hearing explosions. His dad was stationed there but on the Minneapolis, which was out on manuvers that morning and so not in the harbor, thank goodness. The neighbor came over and told them to wake up their mom and get in the basement, that they were under attack, but the kids knew that the cardinal rule of the house was to never wake up Nana, so the neighbor grabbed the kids and got them in the basement herself. They waited there and listened to the explosions over the hill down in the harbor and waited for the bombs to drop on them. They never did.

Dad remembers being afraid for his dad and being afraid of the bombs ("black things falling out of the sky" as he calls them). Somehow, no one knows how, Nana slept through it all. We used to tease her a bit about that, too, before the alzheimers set in and we lost her.

May all those who lost their lives rest in peace. May all those who survived only to die later in the war rest in a place of repose and grandeur. May all those who survived the attack and the hell of war walk in peace and have peaceful dreams. May all those in the naval housing, the children and the spouses and the lovers, sleep well tonight.

Let us all remember the horror of war and fight to end the one our nation is waging now. Let us all work so that more kids don't have to be afraid of black things falling out of the sky and sit huddled in the basement, waiting for death.

Peace on this day of rememberance.

[aquart]

1. Amen.

[madrchsod]

2. i didn`t realize it was dec 7

god i hope he does`t say anything really stupid today..

[knitter4democracy]

4. Oh, Bush will. *sigh*

Whenever he tries to honor anything, it either comes out stupid or worse.

[rockymountaindem]

3. Amen n/t

[AlCzervik]

5. The first time i went to Honolulu our first stop was the USS Arizona memorial

it was very moving and i don't think there was a dry eye within miles.

[knitter4democracy]

6. I have yet to get there. Dad did, though.

He found where his old house had been and where he'd played as a kid, and then he went to the memorial. He cried for all those men who bashed down the locks on the guns and ammo and defended their ships, their harbor, their nation.

Hard day.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Shameless self-kick.

It's a day of remembrance.

[TahitiNut]

8. One of my uncles was in the Army Air Corps at Hickam Field when they attacked.

He died several years ago. He was wounded in the attack. Pearl Harbor Day has always been a day of reflection for my dad's side of my family.

[Ishoutandscream2]

9. I read part of your post to our students and staff here at school

We took a moment of silence second period and I discussed the importance of this day and told them to try to talk to someone from that particular period, because obviously, they are leaving us.

I read your post (I did edit a few things). It was very moving. I hope this doesn't offend you in anyway. Our kids just need to know these things.

great post by the way!!!!!

[knitter4democracy]

10. Thank you. I used to tell my students my dad's story, too.

I would tell them so they could understand what war could do to everyone, even the children living with it all these years later. They were so far removed from real war that they needed to hear what it is actually like.