Posted on 12/07/2015 2:01:46 PM PST by WhiskeyX
The History Channel presents Pearl Harbor. The Definitive documentary of the day that will forever live in infamy.
Cheers to the all Naval Reserve gun crew on USS Ward who fired the first official shots of WWII for America against Japan and sinking a midget submarine.
GO USNR!
FDR said, (a) date that will (forever) live in infamy.
Everyone says, 'day,' but the quote is 'date.'
One of that USS Ward gun crew was present when the mini-sub he helped sink was re-discovered a few years back, officially validating their claim. Pretty cool.
That recovery was cool, especially the hole in the superstructure where the Ward said they hi.
Warship. Taney was in Honolulu harbor during the attack.
The yard tug Toga is still around too. She was moored in Suisun Bay for years while her disposition was settled.
Thankfully, she’s been saved & I think a museum in Little Rock (of all places) purchased her.
Within the first 10 minutes, that History channel bit already blamed racism against the Japanese and American failure to understand them. Crap.
The USS Ward was subsequently converted to a high speed (APD) transport, and continued in combat service until it was hit by a kamikaze at Ormoc Bay in the Philippines, and had to be scuttled.
On...December 7, 1944.
Further irony...the commander of the USS O’Brien, which fired the shots that scuttled the stricken Ward, was none other than the same officer who had commanded the Ward at Pearl Harbor.
I did not know that.
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