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A moment of silence please for the 2,000+ men and women who gave up their lives for us that fateful Sunday at Pearl Harbor Hawaii:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
I am forever in their dept and cannot thank those involved in the battle enough for what they suffered in the name of liberty.
Those 2,000+ were but a part of the 418,500 who died in the next 4 years. Many thousands suffered physical and emotional injuries that hindered them for years to come. We are all blessed for the service of each of these men and women, as well as those who served beside our fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins in different uniforms.
Uncle Jesse:
The first shot fired on December 7th 1941 was the USS Ward (DD-139) that was commissioned 24 July 1918 and recommissioned January 15 1941. The USS Ward was protecting the entrance to Pearl Harbor when it spotted a Japanese midge submarine trailing another navel ship through the nets laid across the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
The forward 100-mm gun (gun #1) fired at the midge submarine and missed, the rear port side 100-mm gun (gun #3) fired and hit the conning tower of the midge submarine.
This japanese midge submarine sank but could not be located until it was found in only in recent years.
Gun #3 now sits in St. Paul Minnesota Capital Grounds, donated for Minnesota's Centennial in 1958, the gun was removed from the Ward when she was converted into high speed transport, for the invasion of Leyte The crew of the USS Ward at Pearl Harbor were members of the Minnesota Naval Reserves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ward_(DD-139)
The USS Ward was hit by Kamikaze planes and Japanese bombs on December 7th 1944 at Leyte, the fires could not be control and the order was given to abandon ship. The USS O'Brien was ordered to sink the Ward because it was a navigational hazard to other ships in the area.
The Commander of the USS O'Brien was William W. Outerbridge, who on December 7th 1941 was the commander of the USS Ward at the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
Thank you Stephen, but I was aware of that bit of history, thanks to the History Channel and the Military History Channel. Before I left to secure my office for the evening there was a program on, part of which I had previously seen, where one of the Ward's crewmen was going down in a deep water explorer vessel to view the midge sub.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven McGarthwaite