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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:12 am • # 1 
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Joined: 03/08/09
Posts: 2144
We must never forget this day....It changed America like no other...


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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:23 am • # 2 
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Joined: 11/17/08
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good point! And those men and women who made that sacrifice are slowing passing away.

Les


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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:34 am • # 3 
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WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET-p-


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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:46 am • # 4 
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No we can't forget this one, but I bet most folks have, and it's a shame.

J.


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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:29 pm • # 5 
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My "car book" is the Oxford book of military anecdotes. We have forgotten a lot more epic battles than Pearl Harbor, believe me. Not the time or place, but much should have been learned that day and wasn't. Don


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 Post subject: December 7
PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:03 pm • # 6 
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Joined: 10/13/09
Posts: 77
Don,

You bring up an excellent point. My grandfather always remembered that day as Dec 8th because he was across the international date line in Guam. He was one of about 100+ Marines who were stationed there. On December 8th, or the 7th in Hawaii, a Japanese fleet of ships surrounded his island, along with several other islands in the Pacific that Hollywood and our history books seem to forget. For three days and nights Guam was constantly being strafed by Japanese planes and under constant naval bombing. On the 4th day the Japanese troops came ashore. All 10,000 of them. The island only had a few hundred inhabitants and the 100+ Marines. The Japanese soldiers rounded up all of the villagers and got the Governor of the island on the PA system to tell the Marines to lay down their rifles, stop fighting and surrender or else the entire island was going to be killed one by one. On that day my grandfather, PFC Bearden was one among the first Marines in history to surrender to the enemy. That simple act caused great psychological suffering among all of the troops. Until that point in history it was pounded into the head of every Marine that we do not ever surrender. We fight to the death if need be. He was a POW in Osaka doing forced labor for the entire war until Japan surrendered. He still remembered his rifle number right before he died. He still remembered some very fluent Japanese and Chamorro, the native language of Guam. A man in his position would have lots to be bitter about, but he never held a grudge against Japanese people.

Years later I served in the Marines as well and after being stationed at Quantico, I moved into the town nearby. The National Marine Corps Museum is just down the road from me. In their WWII Pacific theater exhibit is the bronze plaque that stood in front of the Marine Barracks on Guam. When the Marines took the island back, they brought the plaque back stateside. It looks as though it had been shot at. When I miss my grandfather I go visit that plaque to bring me comfort.


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