[fugazi]

Words can't begin to relate how horrifying and deadly it is to be on a ship under attack, sealing people off, mutilated bodies, then having to jump overboard into seas filled with oil, negative current sucking you under, sharks... one of worst places to be on the planet would definitely be on a ship at war.

[jmaroneps37]

Pride is the word that comes to mind when reading the stories of these brave American fighters.May they all Rest In Peace!

[chimera]

You're right about that. If you are in the enemy's sights, you literally have no where to run, no where to hide. You gotta stand and fight and survive or die. And abandoning ship is no guarantee of survival, either, since without something to hold you out of the water you'll drop about two or three levels on the food chain. And dying of thirst surrounded by undrinkable water has to be unimaginable torture.

All who are brave enough to go out and meet the enemy in battle deserve our honor and respect, but especially so are those who battle the enemy at sea.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I can think of one worse place. In a bomber over Europe in WWII. More losses that the Navy and USMC combined.

[GreyFriar]

Remembrance of Pearl Harbor ping. More “unknown” sailors and soldiers identified.

[bravo whiskey]

When we were at Pearl Harbor for the 60th anniversary (my 50th) in 2001 the ceremony was small enough (and no politicians) to participate in the orchid ceremony. My sailor was George Calvin Ford Fireman Second Class.

[KosmicKitty]

My father was the highest ranking officer on the hospital ship, the Solace, that day. He was on deck throughout the entire attack. When it was over, he steered the ship round the harbor collecting the living and the dead.

They very soon ran out of room in the tiny morgue. According to my father. “We stacked the bodies in the always like cord wood.”

He never put in for any type of medal or aware because he “Was just doing his job.”