Scratch

I'm Canadian and I have no flag url in my clipboard at the moment

[This is from the thread I made, and cheddergirl merged it. So here is my ultimate nerdyness for you]

For anyone who doesn't know, the battle of Pearl Harbor was when the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack using over 300 aircraft from 6 aircraft carriers, against the US Navy's fleet, which was moored in Pearl Harbor, Oahu Hawaii, as well as the surrounding airfields. 5 battleships were sunk, along with 2 cruisers and a handful of destroyers and minesweepers. 2402 US service men and 60 civilians were killed (1700 of these men were lost on the battleship USS Arizona alone), with the Japanese losing 29 pilots. The Japanese tried to send a Declaration of War, but it wasn't received until after the attack, so the US forces were caught completely off guard. The attack pulled the USA into World War Two.

Last edited by militarydudes (2010-12-07 16:26:41)

I know. 

Oh, my great great uncle was a gunner on one of the battleships that was sunk (USS West Virginia).    But he served on it after Pearl Harbor.

The water at Pearl Harbor is only 40 feet deep, so when the ships were sunk, they still stuck up out of the water, so all but three of the ships sunk were repaired and fought on for the rest of the war.

Last edited by militarydudes (2010-12-07 11:48:13)

I find this bone chilling:


This is the sunken USS Arizona. To this day, there are still 1000 bodies inside that thing.

I wondered why Sky Movies were playing Peal Harbour loads today.
Anyway, it is a sad event, like all war. But does it really have to heppen all the time? 

It certainly was a horrible day in US History.

It's pretty sad how just the feeling of power and hate has killed billions of people, eh?

Especially bombing, it's really just pathetic.


...

kiwi95 wrote:

Hope to serve my country when I'm older.

It's good that Pearl Harbour is remembered, it shouldn't be forgotten. 

No one can forget that stuff

militarydudes wrote:

I find this bone chilling:
http://petticoatsandpistols.com/wp-cont … morial.jpg

This is the sunken USS Arizona. To this day, there are still 1000 bodies inside that thing.

1000? In THAT ship?


Looks kinda small to fit 1000 people.

militarydudes wrote:

kiwi95 wrote:

Hope to serve my country when I'm older.

It's good that Pearl Harbour is remembered, it shouldn't be forgotten. 

[offtopic]yeah you said Platoon Commander on another thread, right? Cool. How do you become an officer in the UK? In the US we have the academy's, ROTC, and OTS.

If enter for a Platoon Commander, you get sent to a 32 week (I think) training course at Sandhurst University, arguably one of the best Unis in the world. Afterwards you have to go to a full battle course to test your skills. So that's how it goes. Are you signing up?