Pearl Harbor, Did your Parents or Grandparents tell were they were then, 78 years ago.

Wombat of Doom · Dec 8, 2019

I believe my grandfather was played up at home recovering from an unrelated injury that involved explosives. He fast tracked through high school and ended up steering an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Strangely on my wedding day we toured the Midway with him and they had replaced the seat in the Midway with his old seat. We heard stories that day I never knew.

Ura-Ki · Dec 9, 2019

My Great Grand Dad ( Former German Naval Captain) was "Recalled to Duty" by the Nazi's in 1938, Two years after he secreted his family out of Germany, ordered to take his rightful place in the service of the fatherland, and to assume command of some as yet unbuilt German naval vessel My Grand Father was 17 years old at the time, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 38 as the winds of war were starting to blow, He went into Armor and was initially trained as a Gunner, later he was selected for OCS and went through to become a Lt, and went to commanders school! He went ashore in North Africa in support of the Brits and took his M-3 across the desert chasing Rommel! He was shipped back the the states and working through the Army, he was "Deployed" at the General Motors Tank plant where they were designing and building the new and top secret M-26 tank, which he deployed with his crew to Europe in just in time for the kick off of the Arden Offensive!
My Dads Brother was serving aboard the U.S.S. New Mexico (BB-40) which was sailing from New York to the Pacific when We were attacked Dec.7th, she was aprox. 300 miles from the eastern entrance to the Panama Canal when word came down that we had been attacked and were now at war with Japan! My Uncle served aboard the Mighty Mex from 1940 to 1947 when she was scrapped, he died a Year later from what the Navy called "Consumption" but was later found to be Mesothelioma, basically, the entire ship was insulated with asbestos, and he was a Chief Fireman, so he was constantly exposed to all that nasty stuff! He left behind a pretty well written personal journal and he spend several pages describing his ships visit to Pearl Harbor right after the attacks ( seems she arrived about a 12 days after and was there fueling and awaiting orders!
Another uncle was a Marine in the Pacific doing the island hopping, and he survived the war mostly intact, He never spoke of his time during the war, but he drank A LOT, and died in 1968 of alcohol poisoning!
Another Uncle ( Grand Dads Brother) enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941, and was deployed to England as part of the Invasion force, he was a part of the Tank crews who rode the tanks with a Army Air Corps Radio and would call in circling fighter aircraft to strike targets based on his instructions, Basically the beginnings of a Forward Air Controller! He had lots of stories, and many were Not pleasant, I was very surprised to hear of many of the things he witnessed! My Great Grand Mom and Grand Mom were part of the Oregon Coastal Watch, they manned a watch tower near Coos Bay, and Somewhere my Mom (who was 4 years old when the war ended) had one of their Air craft spotters guide booklets with hand written notes of things, I have never seen this book, but believe it's here in Salem tucked away some place I have yet to discover!
Had a Cousin who was a B-29 bomber Pilot in the Pacific, he told us ONCE about the horrible Fire Bombings they flew against the Japanese Cities, and the 14+ Hours long missions, and having to land a shot up, or out of fuel airplane on some island that was almost impossible to find! He had a little fire bucket out in his shop full of these little steel bombs (About 4 inches long, looked like some sort of toy) which were actually loaded inside a 1000 pound High Explosive Bomb and would be fused to detonate above ground, spraying these little "Bombs" all over the blast area, designed to shred or kill anything they came in contact with! He some how managed to find these while they were loading bombs and grabbed them and brought them back after the war! Wild stuff! I have one of those little bombs some place!