December 7, 1941 PEARL HARBOR...NEVER FORGET !

For those who are in the area (or perhaps up for a road trip), here are some of the last remaining tangible relics of that dark day:

  • USCGC Taney in Baltimore is the last floating combatant to have taken part in the Battle of Pearl Harbor, and was stationed at Coast Guard Station Honolulu when the attack began. Her deck guns fired on Japanese planes heading for Honolulu and forced them to change course to other targets.
  • USS Hoga was on duty as a harbor tug in Pearl Harbor and became famous for being featured in newsreels of the aftermath. During the attack she helped to beach the USS Nevada at Hospital Point out of the channel, and her crew fought fires along Battleship Row for 48 straight hours after the attack. She is currently preserved at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in Little Rock. The tug was Bronx-built at the Consolidated Shipyard in Morris Heights.
  • The 4-inch deck gun No. 3 from the USS Ward that fired the first shots of the Pearl Harbor attack and sunk a Japanese Midget Submarine attempting to enter the harbor is on public display at the Minnesota State House, where it commemorates the crew of Minnesota Naval Reservists who were manning it that fateful morning. The gun also serves as a memorial to the ship itself, which was sunk in combat three years to the day later off Ormoc Bay, Philippine Islands.
  • If you are lucky enough to be in Honolulu today, the Arizona and Utah stand as testimony to those lost. An anchor recovered from the wreck of Arizona stands outside the visitors center and ferry dock for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
 
A dear friend of mine was in school in Galveston studying for a Monday test on December 7th.

Of course I had to ask him about it.

"At first, there was a lot of confusion. No one knew where the hell Pearl Harbor even was."
I asked; people mad?
"More stunned, after a while, it seemed like everyone in town was down on the beach looking for the invasion or submarines."
Anything turn up?
"Nah!"
 
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