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Today we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, 71 years ago. Lest we forget.

Vee

Gosh I have been so busy with the store closing this week and a new web client, that I completely forgot it was Pearl Harbor Day today. Thank you Vee for the kind reminder.

To all those who perished and to all those who went on to fight, we salute you.

Thanks for posting, Vee!

Just watched Pearl Harbor-24 Hours After. We taped it and viewed it this morning.

It was very well done and gave some in depth info on the 24 hours immediate following the bombing.

http://shop.history.com/pearl-harbor-24-hours-after-dvd/detail.php?p=372934

Thought I would just add to this post to honor the fallen on Pearl Harbor 73 years ago today. Let us never forget!

When you think about it, this is why this site and this forum exists, for this day affected each of us in a personal way.

Vee, as always THANK YOU so much for sharing this!

I decided I would share a little something I uncovered a couple of years ago - because it begins with "Pearl Harbor Day." My father - in - law, that I never met, died in 1955. He left behind a wife, and 2 sons - one 11 and one 5. His death was from a heart attack that was connected to his time in the US Army where he had his first heart attack.

When the house he had lived in was sold in in 1970, I latched onto one of those black and white bound notebooks that had his name on it and some other things. Only in the last couple of years did I take a look at what I had saved all of these years.

Jack's penmanship is beautiful. It starts with:

"December 7^th, 1941 is a day I shall long remember. To you it stands for Pearl Harbor Day, a time when our Government shed its peaceful cloak and girded for war – for our country had been attacked, and its possessions violated by a cowardly stab in the back. To me, it meant the turning point in my life.

As so many people often do on a day of rest, I went visiting some friends with my fiancée. After having endulged in a vigorous game of touch – tackle football we were all seated around the fireplace talking, when someone turned the radio on – and then we heard the electrifying news.

The silence was such that one could hear his heart pound in his breast, and feel the blood surge through his veins.

War can come so suddenly and unexpectedly that it fairly chokes the breath in one’s throat. From that moment things would happen with a rush, and the unexpected would be the commonplace. Today I sit amid peaceful surroundings – tomorrow, what?

Jack writes that he received his draft notice and was scheduled to appear at his draft board on Feb. 27^th, 1942. (He was 33 years old.) He goes on with his compelling War story and while it is quite long (many many pages) – it is not long enough - he never finished it!

Jean

Wonderful letter. Wish you had more...

This is what my friend Alyce said on Facebook.

I was 9 years old and visiting a farm neighbor with my family when President Roosevelt made that now famous speech about the attack on Pearl Harbor. A scary thing for a 9 year old when she doesn't know where the heck Pearl Harbor is. I was expecting planes to start bombing the farming country. 73 years ago today.