Pearl Harbor Day
Today is Pearl Harbor day, in which we're supposed to commemorate those who died in the Japanese attack that triggered U.S. involvement in World War II. I'm sure it barely registers to lots of people today, but the events of December 7, 1941, took the lives of over 2,400 and injured more than 1000 in a war that eventually claimed over 60,000,000 lives.
That's sixty million. Say that number out loud and think about it.
My cousin was there at Pearl Harbor that day. Kenneth M. Taylor, my third cousin on my mother's side. He passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 86. You can read about him in this excerpt from the Washington Post:
_____________________________________
By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Kenneth M. Taylor, 86, an Army Air Forces pilot who managed to get airborne under fire near Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and shot down at least two Japanese attacking aircraft, died Nov. 25 at an assisted living residence in Tucson. He had been ill since hip surgery two years ago.
He was a new second lieutenant on his first assignment, posted in April 1941 to Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu. A week before the Japanese attacked, his 47th Pursuit Squadron was temporarily moved to Haleiwa Field, an auxiliary airstrip about 10 miles from Wheeler, for gunnery practice.
After a night of poker and dancing at the officers' club at Wheeler, where the dress code required tuxedoes, 21-year-old Lt. Taylor and fellow pilot George Welch awoke to the sound of planes flying low, machine-gun fire and explosions. They learned that two-thirds of the U.S. aircraft at the main bases of Hickam and Wheeler fields were demolished or unable to fly.
They quickly pulled on their tuxedo pants and, while Welch ran to get Lt. Taylor's new Buick, Lt. Taylor, without orders, called Haleiwa and commanded the ground crews to get two P-40 fighters armed and ready for takeoff.
Official records credit Lt. Taylor with two kills. For their service, Lt. Taylor and Welch were awarded the first Distinguished Service Crosses of World War II.
You can read more about his life at:
www.pearlharborhero.net
Kenneth M. Taylor, third from left, received the Purple Heart after downing Japanese planes. With him, from left, are 1st Lt. Lewis M. Sanders, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen, 2nd Lt. George Welch and 2nd Lt. Harry W. Brown.
_____________________________
I hope you stop today for just a moment and think about what people have sacrificed in order for us to have all the luxuries we take for granted like freedom of speech and other basic liberties that some have tried to take from us in the past. And I hope we remember these sacrifices when some try to take away these liberties in the present and future.
Have a nice Pearl Harbor Day.
- normal ::::: guards of metropolis
That's sixty million. Say that number out loud and think about it.
My cousin was there at Pearl Harbor that day. Kenneth M. Taylor, my third cousin on my mother's side. He passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 86. You can read about him in this excerpt from the Washington Post:
_____________________________________
By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Kenneth M. Taylor, 86, an Army Air Forces pilot who managed to get airborne under fire near Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and shot down at least two Japanese attacking aircraft, died Nov. 25 at an assisted living residence in Tucson. He had been ill since hip surgery two years ago.
He was a new second lieutenant on his first assignment, posted in April 1941 to Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu. A week before the Japanese attacked, his 47th Pursuit Squadron was temporarily moved to Haleiwa Field, an auxiliary airstrip about 10 miles from Wheeler, for gunnery practice.
After a night of poker and dancing at the officers' club at Wheeler, where the dress code required tuxedoes, 21-year-old Lt. Taylor and fellow pilot George Welch awoke to the sound of planes flying low, machine-gun fire and explosions. They learned that two-thirds of the U.S. aircraft at the main bases of Hickam and Wheeler fields were demolished or unable to fly.
They quickly pulled on their tuxedo pants and, while Welch ran to get Lt. Taylor's new Buick, Lt. Taylor, without orders, called Haleiwa and commanded the ground crews to get two P-40 fighters armed and ready for takeoff.
Official records credit Lt. Taylor with two kills. For their service, Lt. Taylor and Welch were awarded the first Distinguished Service Crosses of World War II.
You can read more about his life at:
www.pearlharborhero.net
Kenneth M. Taylor, third from left, received the Purple Heart after downing Japanese planes. With him, from left, are 1st Lt. Lewis M. Sanders, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen, 2nd Lt. George Welch and 2nd Lt. Harry W. Brown.
_____________________________
I hope you stop today for just a moment and think about what people have sacrificed in order for us to have all the luxuries we take for granted like freedom of speech and other basic liberties that some have tried to take from us in the past. And I hope we remember these sacrifices when some try to take away these liberties in the present and future.
Have a nice Pearl Harbor Day.
- normal ::::: guards of metropolis
posted by Guards Of Metropolis | 7:21 PM
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