Posted on 08/15/2016 3:10:08 PM PDT by cdga5for4
Jim Downing is one of, if not the oldest, survivors of Pearl Harbor. He is now 103-years-old and Salem radio show host Eric Metaxas interviewed him late last week. Jim's book, The Other Side of Infamy, releases in November.
Classic line from the interview, "One advantage of being 100 years old is there's not a lot of peer pressure."
Wonder if he feels his sacrifice was worth it seeing the muslim in the today’s White House?
“Classic line from the interview, “One advantage of being 100 years old is there’s not a lot of peer pressure.”
==
I LOVE that quote.
.
Visited the USS Arizona Memorial a few weeks ago. Truly, a profound experience—one of the highlights of my life. It is impossible to step onto the memorial and not be moved. All those brave men—many of them just boys who hadn’t reached their 20th birthday—gone in a second, thanks to a single bomb that penetrated and detonated on the the ship’s magazines.
Eleven hundred and seventy-seven names on that wall, put there on a day of infamy. And more names are being added; over the past 30 years, a number of Arizona survivors have elected to be entombed with their shipmates after their death. National Park Service Divers who place the urns inside the hull say the ship seems to readily accept the remains, realizing another member of the Arizona’s crew has finally come home.
During my day at Pearl Harbor, I also had the opportunity to meet a survivor of the attack, (Ret) Sergeant Major Sterling Cale. On December 7, 1941, Cale was a Navy Pharmacist Mate Third Class, who had just finished the night shift at the base hospital. When the Japanese attacked, he returned to his post and worked for two days straight. He later served as a Corpsman through multiple campaigns in the South Pacific (including Guadacanal). In 1948, he transferred to the Army and became a combat medic, and served again in Korea.
SGM Cale is a youthful 95, and his mind remains razor sharp. It was a honor to meet him and listen to some of his amazing experiences. BTW, he didn’t retire from federal civil service until 2005, at the age of 84. Truly, an American hero:
http://voiceseducation.org/content/pearl-harbor-sterling-r-cale-sgm
Sad, isn’t it? A few years ago, we visited the D-Day Memorial in Virginia. Also visiting at that time was WWII vet, who said he would not have signed up if he had known how the USA would take the turn it has. Made me cry.
Thank you for sharing those stories.
I have thought the same way about my service in WW2——lost 400,000 dead, who knows what one or more of them might have given to society over the years?-—youth who were cut down early to save the nation and free world——look where we are today and ask-—’’’was it really worth it all?’’——well, we got 70 odd years of freedom which the Rats and friends are trying to give away forever——cheers
My dad was a Pearl Harbor Survivor. Would have been been 107 last Monday. Those of use who knew are surprised he didn’t make it.
That was a different generation.
Great interview! Jim is very interesting and remembers so much. He has written other books and describes finding Christ and, thinking he was going to die at Pearl Harbor, said, “Lord, I’ll be with you in a minute!”
We are blessed that he is still here to tell about it.
What an inspiring life.
ping
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