"A day that will live in infamy." Today is the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. If you see a vet, please be sure to thank them for their service to our country. :flag:
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December 7, 1941
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
snowmonster
New member
When I was a kid, I became a Pearl Harbor buff. I can still name the ships on Battleship Row and all the Japanese carriers in the attack. December 7 never passes without me remembering that day in '41. I think I'll watch Tora, Tora, Tora today.
drjeff
Well-known member
Truly one of the few days where the events that happened undeniably changed the world :flag:
SkiDork
New member
The attack scenes in the more recent "Pearl Harbor" are very intense. Gives you an idea how horrible it was.
4aprice
Well-known member
Great movie. History showed Pearl Harbor with Ben Aflick last night, a horrible movie IMO.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
bigbog
Active member
Y'know Alex, you live long enough...in this society, you'll pretty much see everything...
Last edited:
marcski
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Pretty interesting stuff on Brian Lehrer's radio show today. FDR wrote that speech himself. His writers were away...and he inserted the word "infamy" on the morning of the 8th when he made the speech . He also had to keep changing ...or adding the names of the other pacific islands that the Japanese attacked on the 7th and onto the 8th as the info made its way to the White House. He also said (in private) "that if the Japanese knew how badly damaged the us fleet was and invaded the mainland they would have been able to get to Chicago by day break."
Apparently FDR also only told Congress what he wanted them to know on the days following Pearl Harbor.
I wonder what would have happened if the Japanese never attacked. When, how and would the US have entered the War?
Apparently FDR also only told Congress what he wanted them to know on the days following Pearl Harbor.
I wonder what would have happened if the Japanese never attacked. When, how and would the US have entered the War?
snowmonster
New member
I think Tora, Tora, Tora is still the gold standard for Pearl Harbor movies. It is, for the most part, historically accurate and concentrates on the war action. Pearl Harbor, Pearl (shot sometime in the 70s/80s) and From Here to Eternity are more love stories shot with the attack as the backdrop. There was an element of PC-ness in the Affleck Pearl Harbor movie which I disagreed with. There's no way to disguise the sneakiness of what Japan did during the attack. In East and Southeast Asia, there is still some resentment about the way the Japanese military conducted itself during the war. The fact that Japan never showed contrition for this is still a sore spot. Expect to hear more on this as China continues to rise.
There was a great documentary about the attack last night on the History Channel. It traced FDR's actions after the attack and the personal courage he showed. It also showed how, in those early hours, the mistakes leading to the internment of US citizens of Japanese descent were made.
It was only a matter of time before the US got sucked into the war. If not Pearl, the Japanese would have attacked the Philippines at some point on their way to the rest of SE Asia and Australia. If the Japanese stood pat, then something else would have happened in Europe to draw in the US. Perhaps if there had been a full-scale sea invasion of Britain after the initial failure of the Battle of Britain.
