DEC 7, 25.. PEARL HARBOR DAY.. LETTER WRITING DAY..
Interesting that NATIONAL TODAY put together, in the chronological order you see below, the only two Holidays we are interested in today.
It is also interesting that NATIONAL TODAY put National Letter Writing Day ahead of National Pearl Harbor Day of Remembrance.
It seems to us the Pearl Harbor attack was far more important.
We will begin with..
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A day of infamy, the day Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, is commemorated with the National Pearl Harbor Day of Remembrance each year on December 7.
On that day in 1941, more than 2,400 people died in Japan’s attack on the Hawaiian base of America’s Pacific Fleet. Hundreds of aircraft were destroyed or damaged, as were most of the ships in the harbor, and thousands of service men and women were killed or injured. It was an unprecedented surprise attack that precipitated the United States entry into WW II as we sided with the Allies and declared war on Japan.
This is a good time to think of the hardships and ordeals endured by our service men and women every day and everywhere in the world.
Please click onto the below NATIONAL TODAY website link if you want to read more.
https://nationaltoday.com/national-pearl-harbor-day-remembrance/
Below are some of my own personal memories of Pearl Harbor Day.
As a very young child, I used to quietly slip downstairs in my home and listen to the news on the radio that my parents were playing in our living room.
At the time, Walter Winchell was a prominent radio news announcer. As I remember it, he always began his show with the following statement :
“Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press.”
On December 7th, 1941, I was only five years old. But even at five years of age, listening quietly to a newscast by Walter Winchell with my parents on December 7th, I knew that something really big had happened on that .. Day of Infamy .. Pearl Harbor Day.
I served in the United States Marine Corps beginning in January of 1958. I was privileged to serve with members of the Marine Corps who had fought the Japanese in the Pacific Theater during the later stages of WWII. Few talked about their combat experiences, but all of us knew how horrific the fighting had been throughout the Pacific and especially at Iwo Jima and Okinawa towards the end of the war.
To those who served, to those who fought and to those who died when I was too young to serve or to fight .. I say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH .. I SALUTE YOU ALL ..
Cap .. USMC Enlisted .. USN Commissioned Officer
From Patti: I was only a year old when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, so I do not have memories of that specifically. However, my father was called to active duty in the Navy and he was on a ship off the coast of Iwo Jima when the United States flag was raised there. That raising is the ONLY thing my father would talk about regarding his active duty during the war.
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Letter writing has been in decline because of smartphones, the Internet and before that, the telephone. But for hundreds of years, it was the only way for people separated by distance to get in touch with one another.
Today is a great day to get back to basics and hand-write a letter. Isn’t the idea of sitting down for half an hour and hand-writing something to somebody special? We miss it. Don’t you?
To be brutally honest, after composing the above thoughts about Pearl Harbor Day, I just don’t feel like discussing NATIONAL LETTER WRITING DAY any further.
Yet when we checked NATIONAL TODAY for topics, both Patti and I were interested in the Holiday BECAUSE BOTH OF US ARE LETTER WRITERS!
So I will provide the below link to the “Number One Holiday Featured Today” in case someone would like to check it out.
https://nationaltoday.com/national-letter-writing-day/
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At the very bottom of YESTERDAY’S Post.. DEC 6, 25..
We added the below words..
NUMBERS..
Our website (Andrej, Cap and Patti) began with our very first Post on AUG 16, 11 .. HOW THE 2011-12 TRIP TO INDIA BEGAN..
This is Post Number Three Thousand Two Hundred (3,200).
It is all Due To, and Thanks To, each and every single one of you who follow us, submit comments, send photos, text messages, emails and ideas for future Posts.
Thank YOU so very VERY MUCH..
Cap and Patti
5 thoughts on “DEC 7, 25.. PEARL HARBOR DAY.. LETTER WRITING DAY..”
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Cap, if your 3,200 posts were converted to letters in this day and age it would be too expensive to mail to all that read them. My Linda is a Buckeye, but I’m happy the Hoosiers won the Big 10 last night. Have a great day, Gord
Hi Gord. The cost of today’s postage might make it too expensive to mail out copies of F.W.I.W.. Now THAT is an interesting thought. Smiles .. Cap and Patti
As you know, our son, Scott, was born on Dec 7. Gay’s cousin, Barry, was also. A friend, Bob Dolan, always claimed to be the youngest Pearl survivor. He was born in the Navy hospital there during the attack!
So each Dec 7 we look to the top of our nearby Mt. Diablo (elev 3850) 6 miles away to see the old aircraft guide beacon ceremonially relighted.
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Hello Robert. Nice to hear from you. Nice family tradition to look to the top of Mt. Diablo and see the old aircraft guide beacon ceremonially relighted. Cap and Patti
Dear Cap and Patti,
We always remember December 7th. My children’s grandmother was a young girl living not far from the harbor that fateful day. She still has shells (ammunition) they collected on the ground the days following. There are fewer elders now that lived through the horrors, and to hear their stories is still a gift as scary as the memories are.
Stay well.
Kit
Wow Kit. THAT is something. It sure must have been terrifying to have the skies open up filled with with enemy war planes. Thanks Kit for this tid-bit of your family’s history. Cap and Patti