A LOOK BACK AT THE DAY OF INFAMY; DECEMBER 7, 1941; PEARL HARBOR VETERAN PRESERVES RESPECT.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
It all boils down to one word today, Bill Aupperlee says. Respect. Either you have it or you don't. And if you don't, shame on you. More than 3,000 men perished on this day 56 years ago in a place called Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. military installations, including the chief U.S. - a day that still lives in infamy Notoriety; condition of being known as possessing a shameful or disgraceful reputation; loss of character or good reputation. At Common Law, infamy was an individual's legal status that resulted from having been convicted of a particularly reprehensible crime, rendering him . A day which leads old soldiers Old Soldiers is a sequel novel to the short story "With Your Shield" by David Weber, published in the anthology BOLO!, edited by same. It details the future of the two survivors of that battle as they try to keep alive a remnant of humanity, deliberately separated off and and their families to gather every Dec. 7 in parks and auditoriums, town halls and cemeteries all over this country to pay their respects to the memory of the men who died at Pearl and to those who survived. Men like the man sitting at the kitchen table in his North Hollywood home Friday morning, searching for the right words to say today as guest speaker at the Remember Pearl Harbor ceremony, 10 a.m. at the Veteran's Memorial in Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Memorial Park. Bill Aupperlee keeps coming back to the same theme, the same word at the top of a piece of scratch paper Noun 1. scratch paper - pad for preliminary or hasty writing or notes or sketches etc; "scribbling block" is a British term scratch pad, scribbling block notepad - a pad of paper for keeping notes . ``Respect,'' writes the past national president of the most exclusive club in the country - the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, founded in 1958 and recognized by the United States Congress in 1985,[1] is an organization whose members were at or in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. . You can't buy your way in, no matter how much money you have, and even the bluest of blue bloods can't get an invite. No, the only way you can join Bill Aupperlee's club - now numbering around 12,500 nationally - is to have been there on Dec. 7, 1941. And if you were, you could never forget it. It must be a dream, the kid thought, turning in his bunk as his destroyer - the USS USS abbr. 1. United States Senate 2. United States ship USS abbr (= United States Ship) → Namensteil von Schiffen der Kriegsmarine Ralph Talbot Ralph Talbot (6 January 1897 – 25 October 1918) was the first United States Marine Corps aviator to be awarded the Medal of Honor — for "exceptionally meritorious service and extraordinary heroism" while attached to Squadron C, 1st Marine Aviation Force, in France - began to rock back and forth in the harbor. But that noise. What the hell was that noise? Bombs? Damn if it didn't sound like bombs. The kid lifted his head off the pillow and looked out the porthole - right into a rising sun. A Japanese torpedo plane. ``I rushed to my battle station as we began to maneuver to get out of the harbor because we knew they would want to sink as many ships in the harbor as they could to block others from getting out to sea,'' Bill Aupperlee says. Stop and start, creeping ahead a few hundred yards, then stopping, waiting, then starting again. Seconds seemed like hours - hours like days. What was going on up above, Aupperlee wondered, from his station below as a starboard throttle man? His twin brother, Jack, a port-side throttle man, was wondering the same thing. ``We found out later the old man was up on the bridge watching the bombs drop, trying to time our movement in between them,'' Bill said, referring to Capt. Ralph Earle Ralph Earle is the name of several people in the Earle family:
``Every time a bomb exploded up ahead, the old man moved us into that area, starting and stopping until we had cleared the harbor. ``Then we went looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the Japanese fleet, because we knew these planes weren't refueling on land. But it was a big ocean out there. We never found them and returned to Pearl a few days later.'' Returned to the carnage, and the long list of buddies serving on other ships, like the USS Arizona USS Arizona has been the name of three ships of the United States Navy. The first two ships predate both the territory and state of Arizona, but within the region of northern Mexico known as la Pimería Alta , who didn't make it. That's when the men who belong to this exclusive club all made a promise. They would never forget and never let us forget what had happened here. Our country had fallen asleep, and the price we paid for it was dear. Never again. Bill Aupperlee tells this same story to high school students all over Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County when he visits their classrooms throughout the year to fulfill a promise he made 56 years ago. Kids not much younger than he and his brother Jack were when they joined the Navy in 1939 and found themselves in a place called Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Bill talks to them about the need for this country to always remain alert and strong because we still have enemies - terrorists and countries that would like to do us harm. Then, he talks about respect - respect for country and respect for themselves. Themselves because there is way too much fighting between people of different color going on in this country, Bill says. All it does is weaken us as a nation, make us more vulnerable to those who would like to do us harm. We can't let that happen. We can't fall asleep again. Black, white, brown, whatever color, it doesn't matter because it all boils down to only one thing in the end. Respect, Bill Aupperlee says. Either you have it or you don't. And if you don't, shame on you. SURVIVORS NAME: Joe Mariani AGE NOW: 77 AGE THEN: 21 LIVES NOW: Reseda STATIONED ON Dec. 7, 1941: Aboard USS California Six ships of the United States Navy have been named USS California in honor of the 31st state.
SERVICE: Navy, chief boatswain's mate an assistant of the boatswain. - Totten. See also: Boatswain QUOTE: ``We had to abandon ship, so we all jumped in the water because we didn't have any boats. Luckily we didn't have too far to go to shore, because we were nearly surrounded by burning oil.'' HIS STORY: So bad was the carnage aboard the California during the attack on Pearl Harbor that his father got a telegram stating the sailor was missing in action. ``He didn't hear until the new year that I was all right,'' Mariani said. Although Mariani survived the attack, the crew member who might have saved his life was lost. The sailor helped Mariani on deck before the California sank, entombing at least 30 servicemen, he said. ``I turned around and he was just gone,'' Mariani said. Just moments before, Mariani had been preparing to raise the ship's flag for the day when he noticed planes streaking across the sky toward the ships anchored in the harbor. A torpedo from one of the warbirds blasted a 25-foot hole into his ship while a hail of machine gun fire and bombs downed sailors on the deck. ``All the people on the ship thought I had been massacred because I was covered with blood, but it wasn't my own,'' Mariani said. Reeling from the attack, the men tried to use the ship's guns, but the California began to list badly and they got the order to abandon ship, Mariani said. Mariani and others managed to swim to shore, avoiding patches of burning oil that closed in around them. ``We saw dead men floating all around us,'' Mariani said. ``It was spooky.'' After recovering from some minor wounds, Mariani shipped out to the South Pacific, where he served as a gun captain on freighters. He later returned to the mainland for training in anti-submarine warfare “A/S” redirects here. For the Danish stock company form, see Aktieselskab. “A/S” redirects here. For the Norwegian stock company form, see aksjeselskap. , before heading for the coast of Africa. ``After the war, I went to college on a G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill (officially titled the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G.I.s) as well as one year of unemployment compensation. and ended up as an accountant,'' Mariani said. ``It was pretty different than what I had been doing.'' NAME: Jesse Walker AGE NOW: 77 AGE THEN: 21 LIVES NOW: Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. STATIONED ON Dec. 7, 1941: Aboard USS New Orleans Four ships of the United States Navy have borne the name New Orleans, after the historic city of New Orleans, Louisiana:
SERVICE: Navy, chief radioman ra·di·o·man n. A radio technician or operator. QUOTE: ``I was within a stone's throw distance of the planes. I could even see the goggles goggles, n the protective eyewear worn by dental personnel and patients during dental procedures. goggles see periocular leukotrichia. on the pilots' eyes and the hands working the controls.'' HIS STORY: Still groggy grog·gy adj. grog·gi·er, grog·gi·est Unsteady and dazed; shaky. [From grog.] grog from a night's sleep, Jesse Walker was topside on the heavy cruiser New Orleans and about to go on watch when planes entered Pearl Harbor. Funny, he thought, that there were so many of them. Strange they were flying so low. ``I thought they were our own planes,'' said the Oklahoma native. ``I watched them for a time and thought, this is just not right; something is wrong.'' Seconds later, bombs were dropping and torpedoes were sinking ships, and Walker began to witness the destruction of America's mighty Pacific fleet. ``I saw the first torpedo hit the Arizona,'' Walker said. ``I watched the Oklahoma turn over on her starboard side.'' By then, Radioman Second Class Walker and the other sailors had manned the New Orleans' guns and were firing away to ward off attacks on their ship. Although the New Orleans took some hits, it remained afloat. While other ships sank with men trapped inside, only one person on the New Orleans was injured, Walker said. ``It was just a stroke of luck that we all survived,'' Walker said. Shortly after the attack, Walker set sail for the South Pacific, where he zigzagged from one wartime hot spot to another serving as a radioman. Later, Walker trained to become a commando on the mainland and shipped out again, this time to Guam, where he helped set up communications. ``When I joined the Navy, I didn't think I would see any combat, to tell you the truth,'' said Walker, who became a military electronics instructor after the war. ``I just figured you would travel around and see these different countries. Boy.'' NAME: Ben Bossi AGE NOW: 77 AGE THEN: 21 LIVES NOW: Tujunga STATIONED ON Dec. 7, 1941: Barracks bar·rack 1 tr.v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks To house (soldiers, for example) in quarters. n. 1. A building or group of buildings used to house military personnel. at Hickam Field, Hawaii SERVICE: Army Air Corps, staff sergeant QUOTE: ``I told everyone to lay down because if they see you, they are going to strafe you and there is nowhere to go. The people who stood up died.'' HIS STORY: Bossi was fast asleep in the barracks at Hickam Field when a 500-pound bomb ripped through the building. Although shrapnel from the blast tore into his leg, Bossi managed to hobble hobble leather straps fastened around the pasterns of horses, mules and donkeys. Placed on all four legs and pulled together by a rope, it provides an effective means of casting the horse. out of the quarters with a dozen other buddies, only to find warplanes raking the field with machine gun fire. He shouted for everyone to hit the deck, but most remained standing, resulting in the deaths of all but two of the other 12 or so men, Bossi said. ``It was worse in the mess hall, where we lost at least 100 men,'' the Pennsylvania native said. After the attack, Bossi spent the next 17 days in the hospital getting treated for his leg injury. Then it was back to training before Bossi headed out to the South Pacific on an Army Air Corps bomber as a crew chief. Challenged by the experience of being in combat, Bossi returned stateside state·side adj. 1. Of or in the continental United States. 2. Alaska Of or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. adv. Informal 1. for cadet school to learn how to become a bombardier. But just as Bossi was preparing to go to Europe to take part in bombing runs, his twin brother, Frank, was shot down over Germany and Bossi was given an office job. ``The military didn't want too many men killed in the same family,'' Bossi said. ``It stopped me from going overseas.'' At the war's close, Bossi left the service and worked at a variety of odd jobs, he said, before retiring in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Bossi said because of the great loss, Dec. 7, 1941, has left America with an enduring lesson. ``Never, ever, never think everything is OK,'' Bossi said. ``Always be on alert.'' CAPTION(S): 5 photos, map, box, drawing PHOTO (1 -- color) Bill Aupperlee survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a sailor on the USS Ralph Talbot. More stories, Page 28. (2 -- color) Bill Aupperlee shows a painting of the USS Ralph Talbot, which escaped the bombs at Pearl Harbor. Tina Gerson/Daily News (3 -- color) Ben Bossi (4 -- color) Joe Mariani (5 -- color) Jesse Walker Drawing: no caption (Japanese airplanes over Pearl Harbor ships) Illustration by Jon Gerung/Daily News Map: Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 Box: Survivors (see text) |
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