953 nut 58,515 #1 Posted December 7, 2016 12-7-1941 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SylvanLakeWH 27,826 #2 Posted December 7, 2016 "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." Chester W. Nimitz 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rjg854 11,951 #3 Posted December 7, 2016 A special Thank You to the Greatest Generation! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nylyon-(Admin) 7,620 #5 Posted December 7, 2016 My grandmothers cousin remains entombed on the Arizona and fathers Aunt was living on Oahu that day and recalled the planes coming overhead. Having visited the Arizona on a number of occasions, this is a day which will "live in infamy". RedSquare remembers this day by honoring those lost December 7, 1941 with our Patriotic theme entitled "United we Stand". 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CasualObserver 3,410 #6 Posted December 7, 2016 Some of you may remember that our own @Sparky went down and got some great pictures at the USS Arizona memorial just last year! see this topic..... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nylyon-(Admin) 7,620 #7 Posted December 7, 2016 Thank you for remembering Jason, I pinned it to the top for today! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shallowwatersailor 3,214 #8 Posted December 7, 2016 For all my Brothers in Arms to commemorate this hallow day. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,766 #9 Posted December 7, 2016 I remember reading that Admiral Halsey said, after witnessing all the destruction, that " when we are done with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in hell". He was a great American for sure. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498 #10 Posted December 8, 2016 I am sorry I missed this thread, I have a special attachment to this day being that my father was there that day, serving aboard the USS PENNSYLVANIA. Great posts fellas. Glenn 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DennisThornton 4,771 #11 Posted December 8, 2016 Touching thread... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,766 #12 Posted December 8, 2016 7 hours ago, JERSEYHAWG / Glenn said: I am sorry I missed this thread, I have a special attachment to this day being that my father was there that day, serving aboard the USS PENNSYLVANIA. Great posts fellas. Glenn I love battleships and thank God the Pennsylvania was in dry dock when the attack happened. I am going to visit the U.S.S. North Carolina one of these days. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498 #13 Posted December 8, 2016 (edited) Slim, was there a year ago, just for you. Enjoy........ Glenn Edited December 8, 2016 by JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slim67 2,766 #14 Posted December 9, 2016 nice pics. thanks for posting them. I have got to see that! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
