1941. WW 2. Pearl. Harbor. Attack. Doris Miller

[harry brown]

1941. WW 2. Japanese. Attack. Pearl. Harbor. .Navy. Segregated. .Black. Sailors. Did. The. Cooking. ,Serving. Food. The. Laundry. ...When. The.  Attack. Happened.   Doris. Miller. Came. On. Deck. And. Begin. Helping. The. Wounded. Sailors.  .Then. He. Got. To. The ,,Machine   Gun. And. Begun.  Firing. At. Japanese. Planes. ...Read. He. Received. The. Navy. Cross. .He. Was. On. A Escort. Ship. It. Was. Bombed. By. Japanese. .Doris. Miller. Was. Among. The. Dead..I. Read. There. Was. A. Ship. Named. After. Him. .....Will. He. ,,Be. Remembered.  When. On. The. News. They. Talk. About.  ,The,Attack. On. Pearl. Harbor. By. Japan.  In. 1941....Schools.  Talk. About. This. Country. Wars. Black. Soldiers.  ,Sailors.  Buffalo. Soldiers. ,Black. Pilots. Not. Talked. About. ...

[aka Contrarian]

As a member of the US Navy during WW2, my brother served aboard the USS Mason a destroyer escort which was the only naval vessel during this war that was manned by an all-black crew; kinda like a sea -going version of the Tuskeegee airmen. 

He and his shipmates served honorably aboard this ship, risking  their lives in the rough seas of the North Atlantic in action against  the Germans, going unrecognized for their valor.

Finally, 50 years later, President Bill Clinton invited all the USS Mason survivors  to Washington DC  to be honored in a ceremony where they received special medals commemorating their bravery. 

 

I was 8 years old  when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, setting off America's entry into WW2 but I'll never forget that December day. There was no TV back in 1941 but this news was blasting on every radio station!

[ProfD]

Doris Miller did receive the Navy Cross. 

 

The Secretary of Navy at the time, Frank Knox, was in opposition to Black sailors serving in combat roles.  

 

As a result, Knox refused to give Miller a Medal of Honor. 

 

Interestingly, Miller was never awarded the medal of Honor posthumously either.

 

Surely, as AfroAmericans we should not be surprised.

[umbrarchist]

Pearl Harbor was Commodore Perry's fault. If they had just let the Japanese keep their feudal culture they would not have made the planes to bomb Pearl Harbor.

 

The US would not have entered WWII and the Germans would have taken over Europe.

[ProfD]

4 hours ago, umbrarchist said:

Pearl Harbor was Commodore Perry's fault. If they had just let the Japanese keep their feudal culture they would not have made the planes to bomb Pearl Harbor.

Interesting. The Japanese erected a monument to him.   Japanese school children know his name.  Reads like the Japanese see him as some kind of  monster hero.

4 hours ago, umbrarchist said:

The US would not have entered WWII and the Germans would have taken over Europe.

There was a belief that Germany was not going to stop at Europe but planning to take over the world.

 

Revisionist history is an exercise very similar to hindsight which is always 20/20 or better.

[umbrarchist]

59 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Interesting. The Japanese erected a monument to him.   Japanese school children know his name.  Reads like the Japanese see him as some kind of  monster hero.

There was a belief that Germany was not going to stop at Europe but planning to take over the world.

 

Revisionist history is an exercise very similar to hindsight which is always 20/20 or better.

It is standard operating procedure in science fiction. History is taught almost as though things had to happen that way. But so much was just random. What if a hurricane had sunk the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria?

 

I look at history as a record of who had technology versus who didn't.  The Haoles had the technology but most of them are dummies. And the ones who invent the tech are not in control.

 

Planned Obsolescence is a global problem now but most people don't see that.

[ProfD]

10 minutes ago, umbrarchist said:

I look at history as a record of who had technology versus who didn't.  The Haoles had the technology but most of them are dummies. And the ones who invent the tech are not in control.

 

Dummies had the technology. Smart people who invented tech weren't in control.

 

There's  shining example of incongruence.

Ties to ongoing discussion in another thread.

 

15 minutes ago, umbrarchist said:

Planned Obsolescence is a global problem now but most people don't see that.

I don't believe it's a vision problem. Planned obsolescence has been a way of life for several decades now. People have accepted it.

[umbrarchist]

14 minutes ago, ProfD said:

I don't believe it's a vision problem. Planned obsolescence has been a way of life for several decades now. People have accepted it.

I only started hearing about micro plastic in my body a few years ago but I was thinking about planned obsolescence before 1980. I can only wonder how bad the environment will get before "normal" people react.

 

I assume that we are passed overshoot already.

[ProfD]

11 minutes ago, umbrarchist said:

I can only wonder how bad the environment will get before "normal" people react.

It is *normal* for humans to think about such things.

 

However, the environment takes care of itself naturally to include purging humans regardless of their normalcy.

 

The Earth has been around for billions of years before humans existed.  It is scheduled for several billion more years before the sun burns out. 

 

Humans will be long gone from the Earth before the lights are turned out.

[umbrarchist]

1 hour ago, ProfD said:

However, the environment takes care of itself naturally to include purging humans regardless of their normalcy.

 

Humans will be long gone from the Earth before the lights are turned out.

By overshoot I mean a population collapse. I do not think that there is a significant chance of extinction.

 

But a drop from 8 Billion to less than 1 Billion would be pretty traumatic and how scattered would the people be.

[ProfD]

43 minutes ago, umbrarchist said:

By overshoot I mean a population collapse. I do not think that there is a significant chance of extinction.

 

But a drop from 8 Billion to less than 1 Billion would be pretty traumatic and how scattered would the people be.

Nothing to worry about as none of the humans presently on Earth will be around if/when the population drops that dramatically.
 

[Troy]

On 12/8/2024 at 5:38 AM, aka Contrarian said:

Finally, 50 years later, President Bill Clinton invited all the USS Mason survivors  to Washington DC  to be honored in a ceremony where they received special medals commemorating their bravery. 

Was your brother or any of his family in attendance?
 

 

[aka Contrarian]

 @Troy:Yes; my brother and his lady friend attended the ceremony. There were about 8 or 9 other surviving  crew members who also attended. Whoever was Predidrnt Clinton's Secretary of Navy back then presented the medals. 

I underdtand there is a TV documentary about the original USS Mason on one of the cable channels out there. The Navy retired  this ship and commissioned a new one with that name.

[Troy]

Man, that is something @aka Contrarian!