953 nut 51,029 #1 Posted December 7, 2017 Excerpts from "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz. Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war. On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?" Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?"Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?" Nimitz explained:Mistake number one: The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.Mistake number two: When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.Mistake number three; Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make, God was taking care of America. Any way you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat. Our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST, he watched over us in 1941 and continues to do so today.CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY! 16 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHX?? 46,405 #2 Posted December 7, 2017 Thanks for the reminder Richard 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACman 7,423 #3 Posted December 7, 2017 (edited) let use as a nation never forget what happened on this day 76 years ago . I can’t help but think of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech. To me it’s one of the most memorable speeches that I’ve heard by any president . Edited December 7, 2017 by ACman 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,730 #4 Posted December 7, 2017 (edited) Wasn't it Admiral Halsey who said " when we're done with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell"? Edited December 7, 2017 by slim67 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 51,029 #5 Posted December 7, 2017 2 hours ago, slim67 said: Wasn't it Admiral Halsey who said " when we're done with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell"? Sadly he did make that statement. His statement didn't allow for the fact that the Japanese people were not responsible for the attack, only a few hundred military leaders from Japan caused this destruction. As with any war there were no winners, just tragic loss of life on both sides. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,730 #6 Posted December 7, 2017 2 hours ago, 953 nut said: Sadly he did make that statement. His statement didn't allow for the fact that the Japanese people were not responsible for the attack, only a few hundred military leaders from Japan caused this destruction. As with any war there were no winners, just tragic loss of life on both sides. No different than the Nazis I suppose. The German people of today still can't live that down. I would have to think the Japanese people were just as enthusiastic about their leadership as the Germans. But who knew what was to come? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 51,029 #7 Posted December 7, 2017 My father was born in Germany and came to the USA as a young child, the entire family became citizens and the German language was never spoken in their home. When WW2 began my father was a quality control worker at a foundry that made castings for the military. As soon as we began supporting the British war effort my father was demoted to line work because of his German heritage. He said he understood the concern and never experienced any animosity from co-workers. Nearly all of his co-workers were immigrants from European countries but all were now Americans. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,730 #8 Posted December 7, 2017 16 minutes ago, 953 nut said: My father was born in Germany and came to the USA as a young child, the entire family became citizens and the German language was never spoken in their home. When WW2 began my father was a quality control worker at a foundry that made castings for the military. As soon as we began supporting the British war effort my father was demoted to line work because of his German heritage. He said he understood the concern and never experienced any animosity from co-workers. Nearly all of his co-workers were immigrants from European countries but all were now Americans. My inlaws were young children in Nazi Germany but were told what the Nazis wanted them to hear and believe. My father in laws family even had property seized by them. It goes to show you just cant trust the government ! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites