Of course. It's the day we make Atomic Fireball cake.

NewportBarGuy: If you've never met an honest to god WWII combat veteran, try to make today the day. I promise you that you'll never meet a cooler person in your life. They lived through hell and are so nonchalant about it. The Great Depression followed by a massive war. They've seen it all. There are some exceptions, but most of the WWII vets I've ever met have given me great hope for humanity.

Just say "hi" and "thanks." It means a lot to them.

Men and women, both. The women were running this country as the men fought. Truly a different breed. We should look to them for inspiration as we face dark hours.

My father was a Coast Guard veteran and made numerous North Atlantic runs bringing supplies to troops in Africa and Europe. He would talk about the wolf-packs lying in wait off the North American coast, and how they would track the subs.

My uncle was a medic in the South Pacific and was in some of the fiercest battles in that theater.

Amazing and incredibly brave stuff.

/also, my parents became engaged on that day. Since they later divorced, it was a Day of Infamy in more ways than one.

Remember, remember, the 7th of December.

And please have the good taste to not drive your Mitsubishi to work this morning.

Came here for V. Leaving satisfied.

ejwsod36: Came here for V. Leaving satisfied.

I thought it was a Plastic Ono Band reference.

After checking with my friend Wiki:

Remembers

Ponzholio: Farking Germans...

Germans?

Duh it is the first time the Germans gave the Americans a Peral Necklace.

After posting this I get to go and deliver the paper to my neighbor across the street. He was in an AAA Battery that shot down a Japanese plane on December 7th. He says he can't believe it's been 68 years.

He served the duration of the war fighting across the Pacific.

NewportBarGuy: If you've never met an honest to god WWII combat veteran, try to make today the day. I promise you that you'll never meet a cooler person in your life. They lived through hell and are so nonchalant about it. The Great Depression followed by a massive war. They've seen it all. There are some exceptions, but most of the WWII vets I've ever met have given me great hope for humanity.

Just say "hi" and "thanks." It means a lot to them.

Men and women, both. The women were running this country as the men fought. Truly a different breed. We should look to them for inspiration as we face dark hours.

Yeah, if you are in New Orleans I suggest heading down to the World War II museum. One of the best experience I ever had was talking to the old guys who were in WWII at the museum.

I knew it was December 7th from the nip in the air.

Mose: Ponzholio: Farking Germans...

Germans?

Mose: Ponzholio: Farking Germans...

Germans?

Let it go. He's on a roll.

My husband was promoted to E-8 there a few months ago. The guys that were there were the coolest older dudes I have ever met.
The museum was excellent!

Yeah, if you are in New Orleans I suggest heading down to the World War II museum. One of the best experience I ever had was talking to the old guys who were in WWII at the museum.

Mad Scientist: I knew it was December 7th from the nip in the air.

Got distracted by the girl in the pic. Pearl what now?

Go Fast Turn Left: Ponzholio: Farking Germans...

Germans?

Yeah, you know, the kaminazi bombers.

My uncle was on the USS Whitney anchored in the north end of Pearl Harbor on the 7th. He was all of 19 years of age. My Dad later ran convoy escort duty on the USS Brooklyn across the Atlantic.

The Greatest Generation.

Germans?

My father in law was a merchant seaman on an attack transport that participated in the Iwo Jima landings. His eyesight was good enough to ID enemy planes before the spotters could, so he ended up directing AA guns on the ship.

Two of my uncles fought in WWII as well; one in Italy in 1944-45 in an infantry division and the other in the Philippines in an artillery battery during the same time. Unfortunately neither one of them have spoken a lot about what they did; I know that the one who served in Italy sent back a complete Italian Carcano rifle because my dad still has it.

/thanks to all who served

Wait!

What does this have to do with Twilight?

dittybopper: And please have the good taste to not drive your Mitsubishi to work this morning.

That's easy for me, I have Zero Mitsubishis.

NewportBarGuy: If you've never met an honest to god WWII combat veteran, try to make today the day. I promise you that you'll never meet a cooler person in your life. They lived through hell and are so nonchalant about it. The Great Depression followed by a massive war. They've seen it all. There are some exceptions, but most of the WWII vets I've ever met have given me great hope for humanity.

Just say "hi" and "thanks." It means a lot to them.

Men and women, both. The women were running this country as the men fought. Truly a different breed. We should look to them for inspiration as we face dark hours.

One of my first patients was a 91 year old man that lost his leg in North Africa. He was telling myself and my instructor how he got busted from Sergeant to Private when he got busted going awol to get into a local girls pants. He then told us how he dove into a foxhole that had two dead Germans in it when his unit got shelled. He lost his leg when a mortar shell landed in the hole. The dead Germans saved his life.

Every time we had to put him in a lift swing he'd sing "Blood on the Risers". He died 2 months after that rotation ended. He was one awesome man.

BiffSpiffy: After posting this I get to go and deliver the paper to my neighbor across the street. He was in an AAA Battery that shot down a Japanese plane on December 7th.

Man, he must be tiny! Duracell, Energizer...?

/your neighbor, I salutes him

not sure about you guys but I'd like more & better pics of "Rebecca Dale from Australia" there.

Walker: When I went to Pearl Harbor there were more Japanese tourists there than American ones. They were all walking around with looks on their faces like "Sorry, our bad". I guess the same look American tourists give when walking Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Yeah, I went to Hawai'i and saw all the Japanese tourists/vacationers visiting the Arizona Memorial. I could empathize after the previous week's visit to Hiroshima. Definitally an akward tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and could feel that akwardness coming the other direction back at Pearl.

medius: Pearl harbor isn't even shown on some calendars. I knew and was taught about Pearl Harbor in Grade School.
But I guess remembering Pearl Harbor and other such attacks on America have gone the way of saying Christmas Tree(OOOPS) my error Holiday Tree or saying Merry Christmas (OOPS AGAIN). Is it Merry XMAS or Happy Holidays that I'm allowed to say now to be politically correct? Well I'm one for saying what I believe is right not what someone tells me. So Let Pearl Harbor Day Sept. and many other significant dates in history never be forgotten because of political correctness.

Modern liberal thought is that it is offensive to point out the evils of others. Only America, and more specifically White Americans, are evil.

It's my birthday!

Oh, right, infamy... death, etc. Thanks, Japs, for ruining my birthday!

It's the day both saved and ruined the world.

My grandfather drove supplies through the CBI theatre and said that the Chinese communists were a bigger threat then the Japanese.

My grandmother's brothers served as medics during Patton's Sicillian campaign. The one that made me proudest though was here cousin. He was a Sherman driver who helped liberate Dachau. When he saw what the Germans had done he drove over a few with his tank. He was almost courtmartialed, but ruled temporarily insane.

My dad was a motor machinist mate aboard the USS LST-325. He served at the invasions of Sicily, Salerno and Normandy. The ship he served aboard is now a floating, operational museum ship in Evansville, Indiana.

LST Ship Memorial (new window) (new window)

The story of the journey it took to get this ship is pretty amazing. Sailed back from Greece by a crew of 29 WWII nad Korean War veterans, average age 79.

Link (new window)

My dad is gone, but I was there in Mobile on January 10, 2001 when the ship arrived back in the States. So were several of his shipmates from the war. To walk aboard the very ship where my dad had lived and fought for three years was an incredible experience, made even more so by the fact I was doing it with some of the closest friends my father ever had throughout his life.

And in a shameless act of self promotion, this link takes you to the Amazon page for the book I wrote about the ship and her crew, told through the eyes of the men who served aboard her. All proceeds go to the preservation and restoration funds of the ship.

Amazon Link (new window)

Yes, interviewing those men was a life changing event. They thanked me for the simple act of being interested in what they were part of.

Showing gratitude to a Veteran takes no effort and it means so much to them.

I do remember Pearl Harbor, so that means this guy doesn't.