Pearl Harbor Dec 7th 1941

[Dennis Kirban]

Some of you may know the connection my in laws have with that fateful day. My wife and I was recently interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer (see link below) The article ran this past Sunday in the Sunday paper.
The article came about because about a month ago I read an article in the Inquirer on the Slinky. I emailed them as I told them my Dad did the original advertising for the Slinky and I had art work of the original Slinky Dog. In that email I mentioned I had a piece of one of the Japanese planes that attacked Pearl Harbor.

My father in law was stationed in the Army in Hawaii when the surprised attack happened. My wifes grand father was a civilian painter and had just gotten off the night shift from one of the ships. During that time he would help with the clean up and was able to obtain a piece of one of the Japanese planes that crashed. As it been reported by other eye witnesses in articles the planes did come in low enough that you could see the pilots.
That fragment from that historic event was passed down to me and my wife. See the link below for the entire article. This was the war that was supposed to end all wars....we all know this did not work out! I served in Vietnam and I know many others on this forum have served in Vietnam and in the current conflicts in the middle east.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=360641681&

if the link fails to work you can email me denniskirban@yahoo.com and I can probably send it to you personally.

 

[S10xGN]

Excellent story, Dennis. Thanks for sharing...

 

[ITSAV6]

That is the reason my Dad enlisted in the Navy in 41. He was on a Destroyer in Tokyo Bay when the treaty was signed. He gave my sons a Japanese Officers' dress sword and 2 bayonets he got while he was stationed there, I even have a photo album from his time there after the war. Always refered to them as damned dirty japs, never forgot or forgave them.

 

[jemook]

Great article. My dad and mom's anniversary was also on Pearl Harbor day, in 1950.
John

 

[corsair231]

Cool story Dennis. My father was a WWII vet. European theater. Mainly Italy. His most important war relic was a shard of a German mortar round imbedded in his skull. It was large enough that a metal detector would pick it up. That particular wound never seemed to bother him but some of the other ones he had did lead to him being disabled later in his life.
He never really talked about the war until he would get around other vets and then some of the stories would come out. My favorite war story of his though was one that didn't even take place in battle. In fact I got to experience it with him back in the late 70's. In the 70's my fathers company started having yearly "Old Soldiers" reunions hosted by and for families of the veterans at locations around the country. They had already had several that my father was not able to attend. Then the first one close enough that we were going to be able to go was to be held in Nashville. My father was excited of course. He was going to get to see many of the guys for the first time since the war.
On the first evening there was a welcome banquet where they announced the veterans attending for the first time. There were several soldiers introduced before my father, all to a good round of applause. When they called my fathers name the first sound I heard was not applause though. It was the sound of chairs sliding as the veterans in attendance stood up and started to clap.
I was awed. Here was the man I just knew as Dad getting a standing ovation from a room of war hardened soldiers. After the banquet and over the rest of the weekend I heard stories about my father that I had never heard before. It seems that my father was a gunner that carried a weapon called a B.A.R. and apparently he was pretty good with it too. Everyone told us of times where he had saved their bacon or helped make the mission a success with his skills and bravery under fire. (It seems everyone wanted to take out the automatic weapon first.) I was pretty impressed to say the least. Not bad for the son of a share cropper from the poor part of NC. I had never nor have I ever been more proud to be his son than I was that weekend.
Thank you Pop for your service. You were my biggest inspiration to join. I love you and wish you were still around.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

Tonight, I'm raising a glass to The Greatest Generation.

Thank you all, for setting the example of how great we can be as The United States of America.

Mike Barnard