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I still remember my late father in law's description of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He had been in the Navy reserve for several years, and was in Hawaii for annual training. He was in the infirmary at Kaneohe Naval Air Station with a minor ailment when he heard a lot of planes. He was just wondering why so many planes were in the air when the first bombs hit. He was thrust into the chaos and was immediately mobilized. Instead of being gone for a few weeks, he did not get home for the next four years. Fred was stationed on Oahu nearly the whole time, and couldn't get home, but never was shot at again. December 7, 1941 was the most dangerous day of Fred's life, and he was always grateful that he never lived through anything else like it.

alliwant 7 Dec 7
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Interesting twisted note on Pearl Harbor and that attack. My father was in the Marines and was here in the states at the time of the attack. My uncle, Leroy, was assigned to the USS Arizona, but there was a glitch in the orders and he was sent to a temporary duty station somewhere up the California coast (I don't recall where that was) and just missed being there as a member of the Arizona's crew.

I wonder how many guys were lucky enough to be elsewhere by some fluke instead of on board ship or at an airfield just as things hit the fan. Your uncle is very lucky indeed.

@alliwant -- In that instance he certainly was. On the other hand, the rest of his sea duty was on destroyers and destroyer escorts. I guess one must pay retribution for what luck one enjoys. My father wasn't so lucky and wound up traipsing across the entire Pacific one island at a time. Leroy at least had another turn of reasonable luck and was transferred from Pacific to Atlantic as D Day approached and he enjoyed some rather posh shore duty in France after war's end in Europe. Dad was still mucking around in the Pacific for another year.

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