1941
The flags in front of Merchandise Mart were at half-mast when the train went by this morning.
There was a Pearl Harbor vet who used to live around the corner from my elementary school. I don't remember what grade we were in -- it could have been anywhere from second to sixth -- but Robert Hedges came into our class and talked about it one year. I was that age when all those 50th anniversaries were happening: I remember the 50th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki very clearly. Mr. Hedges... even then, at that age, you were in awe that someone who had been there was sitting in front of you. He was a very quiet man, a gentle guy. I noticed that even then. I want to say he'd been stationed on the Arizona. I wish like anything I could remember more. He talked about being in the water, and about fighting fires and how many men were trapped and drowning. (He seems to still be alive. At least as of May. That's also an amazing story, which I hadn't known about Athens. Though now I'm wondering if I'm remembering the vet's name correctly. I hope I am.)
One more reason everyone should read "The Good War" by Studs Terkel is that it starts out with an account from a 16-year-old who was a machinist's apprentice at Pearl Harbor. It's just the beginning of an astonishingly vivid set of testimonies.
See the whole slideshow here.
Also, go here. The caption for the fourth image is as follows: Grant Ichikawa, a 90-year-old Japanese American, linguist, and World War II veteran who served in the Pacific as an interpreter, bows his head during a moment of silence at the ceremony.
There was a Pearl Harbor vet who used to live around the corner from my elementary school. I don't remember what grade we were in -- it could have been anywhere from second to sixth -- but Robert Hedges came into our class and talked about it one year. I was that age when all those 50th anniversaries were happening: I remember the 50th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki very clearly. Mr. Hedges... even then, at that age, you were in awe that someone who had been there was sitting in front of you. He was a very quiet man, a gentle guy. I noticed that even then. I want to say he'd been stationed on the Arizona. I wish like anything I could remember more. He talked about being in the water, and about fighting fires and how many men were trapped and drowning. (He seems to still be alive. At least as of May. That's also an amazing story, which I hadn't known about Athens. Though now I'm wondering if I'm remembering the vet's name correctly. I hope I am.)
One more reason everyone should read "The Good War" by Studs Terkel is that it starts out with an account from a 16-year-old who was a machinist's apprentice at Pearl Harbor. It's just the beginning of an astonishingly vivid set of testimonies.
See the whole slideshow here.
Also, go here. The caption for the fourth image is as follows: Grant Ichikawa, a 90-year-old Japanese American, linguist, and World War II veteran who served in the Pacific as an interpreter, bows his head during a moment of silence at the ceremony.