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Time marches on: Pearl Harbor Survivors Association to disband

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Dec 7, 2011.

  1. king cranium maximus IV

    king cranium maximus IV Active Member

    My grandfather was at Normandy. That didn't kill him. His body betraying him currently is. Shame to see a great man turn frail.
     
  2. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    I did a story once about 1995 or so, about a guy in town who was finally awarded his Purple Heart for injuries he took in the Pacific. At the time, he adamantly refused any and all medals because he didn't want any reminders of the war or the pain he went through when he was wounded. His family finally convinced him to look into receiving his just due 50 years later. It took an inquiry by the local congressman, but in the end, he got his medals.

    For awhile after that he'd drop in with some information about the local Order of the Purple Heart, and one time he brought some of his black-and-white snapshots of his time on the islands. The one I'll never forget was one where they had taken the head of a dead Japanese soldier and mounted it in their camp like a trophy. To me, that says as much about the casual brutality of war than anything I could imagine.
     
  3. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    We'll be saying the same thing in 2071 about the 9/11 survivors. Except newspapers won't still be around to continue memorializing the date.
     
  4. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    My grandfather was also at Normandy and is also becoming frail. His memory is going. He's acting strangely at times. He struggles to walk around the grocery store. But I think it's wonderful that he's lived this long. He lived a complete life. There's no way I reach 90.
     
  5. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Both of my dead grandfathers fought in the Battle of Bulge. Once got a piece of shrapnel in his back. It healed, he lived a normal life, but it was kept in there. Years later he would show it off to the grand kids to gross us out once in a while.

    The other one drove a tank and took part in the film "Five Graves to Cairo" during training in Texas. I think the only really interesting story I got from him was being up to his waist in oil in the belly of the tank when it broke down. Weird thing is he never drove again in civilian life.
     
  6. Quiet Man

    Quiet Man Active Member

    My grandfather was apparently within days of his 4 year hitch being up when Pearl Harbor was attacked. (He wasn't stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time.) Of course, at that point any thoughts of his service ending were a pipe dream. Eight months later, his ship was sunk in a surprise overnight attack by the Japanese off of Guadalcanal. He spent the night in the water with shrapnel in his shoulder (as did many others) and was rescued the next morning. After being shipped stateside for a couple of weeks, he was put on a new ship and ended up seeing most of the major battles in the Pacific through the end of the war. He died when I was 13, over 30 years ago now, and I only got to know most of this second hand years later. Really wish I would have had the chance to hear about his experiences first hand.
     
  7. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    Copydesk.org took some front pages from Newseum and showcased their top 10.

    http://apple.copydesk.org/2011/12/07/todays-ten-most-interesting-pearl-harbor-anniversary-front-pages/

    (Full disclosure, my story is the second listed. Gotta brag on myself and my coworkers just a little.)
     
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