OT: Pearl Harbour

Japan attacked the US because we were providing aid and arms to their opponents in the second World War.
Germany attacked the US because we were providing aid and arms to their opponents in the first World War.
England attacked the US because we were providing aid and arms to France in the Napoleonic Wars.

I visited Pearl Harbor in the 1970s it was a memorable experience, if anyone has ever visited Hawaii it’s hard to reconcile the peacefulness of these islands with the “Day of Infamy”
But as always we prevailed over the forces of tyranny.

Never been but, recently spent a day at the National WW2 Museum in NOLA.... highly recommend. Also toured the battleship Alabama in Mobile; also very good.

@londonguy

I will play along and comment on your discussion.

FYI:

How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor

“On July 26, 1941, Roosevelt “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan”

“The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.”

~ After the attack, to Pearl Harbor Stimson confessed Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War

“Wars are caused by one country's wish to take control of another country's wealth.

There is almost always an economic motive underlying most conflicts, even if the stated aim of the war is presented to the public as something more noble.”

I have been. It’s certainly an “must see“ stop if you are in Hawaii. It takes some pre-planning, though. It’s a very popular site. The Arizona, which is considered a graveyard, can be accessed only by a shuttle boat operated by the US Navy, and you must get there early to get tickets. I can’t remember if you can pre-purchase tickets or not. Actually, I can’t remember if tickets cost anything.
They might be free, but seats on the shuttle are limited. It’s a very somber experience.

And the trip to the Arizona is very quick, like 5 minutes it seemed. It is a somber experience. The day I was there the USS Nimitz came into port from the middle east. I still get cold chills thinking about it.

Sorry for being slightly off topic. But oh has the world changed. The attack on Pearl Harbor deeply affected the US. My dad joined the US Navy at 17 and was deployed in the Pacific.

Hell, today you can’t even get a 17 year old kid to apply for a job a Subway

I really wish the jackasses would shut up and consider that there are 1102 Americans entombed on the U. S. S. Arizona who gave their last full measure of devotion, I’m well aware that they have freedom to speak but there is a time and a place.

Japan attacked us because we were supplying arms to their opponents in WW2? Total bullshit, since they weren't in a war, other than their rape of China when they did their sneak attack, allegedly because we stopped selling them oil. Germany declared war on us in WW2 because we declared war on their Ally, Japan.

My grandfather was in on the battle of Iwo Jimo against the Japanese. Fortunately, he survived and came home. My mother said she didn't hear about it until many years later. He never talked about his war experiences.

Twentyfive's typical liberal bullshit that the only allowable opinions are those which he agrees with. Everyone's opinion get to be heard in our country, jackass. It's called "Freedom of Speech". Feel free to leave if you don't like it. Oh wait, you were going to leave the board because of free speech. Remember that? How did that go? No life, no friends, nothing for you in the real world so you came crawling back here like sniveling fool. Pull up your Depends and act like a grown-up.

@skibum: We were providing aid and arms to the Chinese, Phillippines, and Europen colonial powers in Asia. The oil embargo was the straw that broke the camel's back. Japan needed to seize oil and other resources by force.

I specifically stated why Germany attacked us in the first World War.

Remember Children; the UNDENIABLE REALITY is:

“War is rich old men protecting their wealth and property by sending workin/middle class and working/lower class men off to die.”

~ George Denis Patrick Carlin
~ Born May 12, 1937 New York City, U.S.
~ Died June 22, 2008 Santa Monica, California, U.S.

Yeah it’s sucks seeing these guys from the greatest generation go. My uncle passed away last week he was also in the Pacific during the war. These guys used to be everywhere now it’s really rare. You’d have to be 95+ it’s hard to live that long. As far as the Arizona I haven’t been but it’s on my list although to get out there your probably looking a a 1K plane ticket

Over 16 million Americans served in WWII, the youngest are at least 90, there are less than 163,000 left
My dad was one.
They truly saved the world.

I've been there twice. first time was a little over 50 years ago when I was in the Navy and we used to dock right across from the Arizona and the second time was 2005 with my now ex-wife on a trip to Kauai.

I went to Hawaii in 1987 I believe. Used frequent flyer miles and stayed in Honolulu. Had a rental car with no pre-planned itinerary but one of the places I went to was the Arizona.

If I recall you first watch a film and then board the boat to the Arizona. I found the Arizona quite moving particularly the plaque with names of all the soldiers that perished that day. At least at that time they still had trickles of oil floating to the surface, 46 years later.

It's on my bucket list to go again.

I went to Pearl Harbor once in 1994 when I was 12 but I was too young to fully appreciate it. We went as a family trip because my dad wanted to take my grandpa there. He was in the Navy when the Japanese attacked but was luckily stationed in the Atlantic aboard the USS Ranger at the time. He spent the next 2 years of WWII aboard the Ranger mostly off the north African coast before being stationed at Norfolk for the rest of his tour. He had never been to Pearl Harbor but lost a lot of friends there that day.

I wasn't old enough to fully grasp the significance of Pearl Harbor while I was there, but there is one memory from that trip that is etched into my mind. It was the first time I ever saw my grandpa cry as we were on the boat at the USS Arizona. The only other time I saw him cry again was the morning of September 11th as we were watching the news.

If you can’t get to Hawaii, the University of Arizona Memorial Student Union in Tucson has a variety of displays that commemorate the USS Arizona. There is a small museum of memorabilia from the ship inside the Union. On the campus mall just south of the Student Union, there is a flag memorial that includes a copper disc with the name of each service member that died on the ship that day. Also on the mall, an actual size border of the ship is embedded into the grass mall, giving one the perspective of the ship’s size. On the north side of the Union in the middle of a traffic circle is a sculpture that incorporates copies of dog tags for each service member that died on the USS Arizona. A memorial service is held on the mall each December 7th with survivors of the attack. I’m sorry to hear the last survivor has passed. That was truly the greatest generation.

Remember Children;

The fact of the matter is that the US military is the primary tool which the US utilizes to promote and protect the economic interests of the 1% abroad, by regime change, invasion, carpet bombing, taking land as territories, like Puerto Rico, Texas, California etc.

From the Boston Tea Party where disguised as American Indians, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company to create a war, to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, a made up attack used as a pretext for escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Nowadays Afghanistan, Irak, Ukraine 🇺🇦 and supposedly airstrikes in Syria some Americans keep manufacturing conflict and wars for the financial benefit of the 1% American oligarchs and their accomplices.

It is in the DNA of The United States of America to manufacture wars for profit.

All the wars created/waged by the leaders/monarchs of the British and American empires were and are to this day wars of aggression for profit and take place outside the USA, and of course the stated aim of the war is presented to the public as something “noble” like protecting freedom, yes the freedom to conquest, plunder and steal of course…

Even a Swedish child is aware of this UNDENIABLE REALITY:

“It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.”

~ Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg
~ Born: 3rd January 2003 Stockholm, Sweden
~ Occupation: Student, environmental activist

~ Awards:
~ Fritt Ord Award (2019)
~ Rachel Carson Prize (2019)
~ Ambassador of Conscience Award (2019)
~ Right Livelihood Award (2019)
~ International Children's Peace Prize (2019)
~ Time Person of the Year (2019)
~ Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity (2020)

Wtf is up with this guy?^^

When I visited the USS arizona it was crazy to still see oil coming up from the sunken ship and making small pools of that oil on top of the water. I also took a private flight around the island with our Cessna pilot whose grandfather was on the eastern side of the island the morning of the attack. Tye story goes he was collecting fish and looked up thinking it was a flight exercise. He didn’t know it was an attack until much later that day. My flight over the island ended taking the same path as the Japanese and we flew over the harbor looking down onto the sunken ship. Very cool to experience it from that angle.

My dad was in piot school to be a Navy pilot of a TBM Avenger when the war ended. My father- and mother- in - law both worked in an ammunition factory along with their duties on their farm. The greatest generation indeed.

Remember Children

The United States invaded/annexed as a “territory” the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian Kingdom on July 7, 1898 and Hawaii has since been under prolonged occupation to the present,

Hawaii is and continues to be an occupied State, but its continuity as an independent State remains intact under international law.

This illegal occupation has had a profound impact on Hawaii’s population who have been the subject of denationalization, which is the obliteration of the national consciousness of the occupied State in the minds of its people.