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LewWaters

Wednesday December 7, 2011 was the 70th anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that thrust America into World War Two.

On this 70th anniversary, 11 survivors of the attack from the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area shared their memories at the commemoration services held at the Red Lion Inn at the Quay.

I was fortunate to be in attendance and able to tape their words.

YouTube Video
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Clark County Conservative

Navy_Navy_Navy · Admin Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777

That's great that you were able to catch some bits of history - we're losing them pretty fast and every bit of eyewitness history adds to the complete picture.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

BuffaloJack · Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject:

Lew,
It won't be long before we will be those vets that someone wants to record for history.
I wish I'd asked my dad more about WW2. My dad died in the mid-70s. All I knew was he served aboard Heermann (DD-532) and was in some battle off the coast of the Phillippines. It wasn't until I was watching the History Channel about 2 or 3 years ago that I discovered the significance of this. It was the Battle of Layte Gulf. The Battle off Samar in the Layte Gulf is when 4 destroyers (Heermann was one of them), a small group of destroyer escorts and a few tiny escort carriers took on the Japanese Fleet and bluffed them into retreating. Nor did I have any idea that Heermann was the only surviving destroyer in the battle.
I also wish I'd found out more about my grandfather who served in France in WW1, or my other grandfather who was at San Juan Hill. And then there was some great great uncle my grandparents took care of who used to tell me stories of serving with General Lee. He died in the 50s; I don't even remember his name. All I remember was that he was over a hundred and had that old people smell.
There are hundreds if not thousands of opportunities to learn history from veterans and most of these opportunities are lost.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

LewWaters · Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:19 am Post subject:

Sadly Jack, what you say is all too true.

There are isolated individual stories out there, but they need to be consolidated.

The younger generations today must be taught what others fought and died for on their behalf.

Too many have no clue.
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Clark County Conservative