As an aside, we should encourage him to engage in this activity more often as he approaches retirement for the second time. It'll keep him off the streets at night.
Stay on target, juvat, stay on target! On target Aye, mi muy viejo Sargento de la Fuerza Aérea!
As readers are aware, my town has a Smithsonian quality museum dedicated to WWII in the Pacific, specifically the National Museum of the Pacific War. Locally, it's referred to as the Nimitz Museum, as Admiral Nimitz was the CINC for the Pacific for virtually the entire war. Additionally, Admiral Nimitz was born and raised here. So....Nimitz Museum.
Now, December 7th was a big day, if not a particularly good one for the Navy, and the Museum has always done it right, as has the town. We always have a lighted Christmas Parade on the first Friday in December, so every 7 years or so, it corresponds. The 60th anniversary of the attack happened to be one of those. If you'll recall, 2001 wasn't a particularly good year for the United States either.
That particular parade's grand marshal(s) were about a hundred or so veterans who had served at Pearl Harbor on that day. Being older, they rode in era trucks and vehicles. It was a moving sight, to say the least.
The museum also hosts a social event for the veterans in the main ballroom of the Museum (that part of the Museum is housed in Admiral Nimitz' grandfather's hotel, hence a ballroom).
I was browsing through the paper this past week and noticed that they had done the event again this year and had a picture of two gentlemen shaking hands.
These were the only two that could make it this year.
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Their names are Jim Leavelle and J.C. Alston.
I thought I recognized Mr Leavelle's from somewhere and as I continued reading, it turns out he was also in this famous photograph.
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The coincidences amazed me. Pearl Harbor and the JFK assassination were, arguably, the two biggest historical moments in US history in the 20th Century. (IMHO of course, Sarge may disagree.) And this guy was there for both.
I found it fascinating.
Mr. Leavelle served on the USS Whitney (AD-4) during the attack.
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And according to this excerpt from the ship's log on that day, the ship appears to have conducted itself admirably
At 0759 Air Raid Attack by Japanese Air Force. Fire and explosions on Ford Island. Sounded General Alarm. 0800 sounded General Quarters. At about 0801 first plane passed over Whitney at low altitude straffing with machine guns. 0804 commenced firing at Japanese planes with .50 caliber anti-aircraft guns. About 0805 received signal to get underway. 0809 making preparations for getting underway. Supply Department issued supplies to destroyers alongside. 0810 Set Condition Afirm, commenced firing at Japanese planes with 3" .50 caliber anti-aircraft guns. About 0820 Japanese plane in flames fell in north channel in vicinity of berth X-Ray 5. 0830 Gunnery Department issued ammunition and Ordnance stores to destroyers alongside. 0830 secured steam to destroyers Conyngham, Reid, Tucker, Case and Selfridge. 0846 cut in #1 boiler. 0855 second air attack by Japanese bombing planes, anti-aircraft guns firing at same. 0905 observed one Japanese plane fell down in flames on hill top, bearing N.E. True from ship. 0930 second air attack over. 1000 the Reid and Selfridge got underway from alongside. 1025 secured electricity to destroyers alongside. 1105 conducted intermittent firing through breaks in clouds at bombing planes. about 1130 received orders for the Whitney to remain at anchor. 1155 Captain O.D. King (MC), USN (Staff Comdesbatfor) and Lieutenant Commander C.J. Stuart (MC)< USN, left to report to Solace. 235 started taking on fuel oil from YO #28 moored alongside to starboard. 1335 five lengths of hose and two submersible pumps were sent to the Raleigh. 1400 Captain O.D. King, (MC), USN (Staff Comdesbatfor) and Lieutenant Commander C.J. Stuart (MC), USN returned from the Solace. 15050 finished taking on fuel oil, received 213,288 gallons. 1427 YO #28 cast off, making starboard side clear. 1655 the Case left from alongside. 1705 the Tucker left from alongside. 1720 the Conyngham left from alongside, leaving port side clear. 1720 darkened ship. 2110 commenced firing at planes overhead, believed to be Japanese. Sounded General Quarters. 2145 secured from General Quarters, set Condition one in the anti-aircraft battery. Set Condition Baker.
There were no personnel nor damage to material on board the Whitney.
The personnel on board were calm and unexcited throughout the engagement. They manned their battle stations efficiently and carried out all orders promptly and without confusion. All officers and men of the Whitney are deserving of the highest praise for their conduct during the engagement.
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Given their position, the Whitney could have figured into Sarge's vignette.
In their log, they mentioned that they saw a Japanese plane "fell down in flames on hill top, bearing N.E.". While stationed at Camp Smith, which is on a hilltop NE of Pearl Harbor, we would go running in the hills above the camp. We had heard rumors of a wreck of a Japanese aircraft up there. We found it one day and while exploring it, I slipped and fell on the wing, cutting the back of my arm, badly enough to require several stitches. I wonder......
Back to reality, juvat!
Reality is boring, Sarge!
One of the other things the Museum does is provide free admittance to WWII Veterans. If the person actually served in the Pacific, they're asked if they'd mind being interviewed. Mr Alston visited in 2003 and consented to an interview. He served as a gunner on USS California and had just been relieved and gone below to chow when the attack began.
A hundred men were killed on that ship and two Medals of Honor were awarded. Mr Alston credits the USS Nevada for saving the California as the airplanes that attacked it were also lined up for an attack on California if the Nevada hadn't gotten under way. It's interesting reading the transcript. (The audio transcript is not very good quality, although it is interesting to hear an actual participant describe things from their point of view).
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you are in the San Antonio or Austin area and have a day free, you owe it to yourself to visit this museum.
If you get the chance to speak to a Pearl Harbor Veteran, take it. You may, shortly, never have another opportunity.
In their log, they mentioned that they saw a Japanese plane "fell down in flames on hill top, bearing N.E.". While stationed at Camp Smith, which is on a hilltop NE of Pearl Harbor, we would go running in the hills above the camp. We had heard rumors of a wreck of a Japanese aircraft up there. We found it one day and while exploring it, I slipped and fell on the wing, cutting the back of my arm, badly enough to require several stitches. I wonder......
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| The Picture is oriented with North at the top, the two blue dots off Ford Island is roughly the location of the Whitney. The red circle North and East of Camp Smith is approximately where we found the aircraft. |
Back to reality, juvat!
Reality is boring, Sarge!
One of the other things the Museum does is provide free admittance to WWII Veterans. If the person actually served in the Pacific, they're asked if they'd mind being interviewed. Mr Alston visited in 2003 and consented to an interview. He served as a gunner on USS California and had just been relieved and gone below to chow when the attack began.
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A hundred men were killed on that ship and two Medals of Honor were awarded. Mr Alston credits the USS Nevada for saving the California as the airplanes that attacked it were also lined up for an attack on California if the Nevada hadn't gotten under way. It's interesting reading the transcript. (The audio transcript is not very good quality, although it is interesting to hear an actual participant describe things from their point of view).
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you are in the San Antonio or Austin area and have a day free, you owe it to yourself to visit this museum.
If you get the chance to speak to a Pearl Harbor Veteran, take it. You may, shortly, never have another opportunity.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Juvat. Looking back, I knew a lot of WWII vets back in the day. Heck, when I started working for real most of the older guys I worked with were WWII vets. Now there are so few left. All too soon, they'll all be gone. We need to honor them while we can.
Thanks, and yes we do.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWe don't use that word on this blog. Ever. Not in context, not in a quote. Ever.
DeleteYeah, I saw that quote also.
DeleteFor those who misssed the quote, somebody pointed out that JL made a racial comment. Since words like that are not allowed on here, they removed it. I upload the uncensored version on here, if it’s allowed. Leavelle later said to author Joseph McBride that to him, the murder of President John F. Kennedy was 'no different than a south Dallas n----r killing'. This is not to put Leavelle in an unfavourable light. He did live in a simpler time, after all.
DeleteAgain, this is the right way to include such words.
DeleteI don't have a lot of rules here. But certain words (racial slurs are verboten). I make no judgement, those were simpler times, but some things I cannot countenance.
Your blog, your rules.
DeleteOTOH, the language of our great grandfathers was rich and is actually no different from what is used today. Mark Twain could scarcely be read in the unexpurgated version I'm sure they sell these days. OTGH, I'll bet there isn't a school in the nation that teaches Mark Twain in the original language.
How is it not putting Leavelle in a unfavorable light? This remark reveals that Leavelle was a racist who was not really concerned about who killed President Kennedy.
DeleteInteresting. For the purpose of discussion only:
DeleteThe highly respected legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, just moved to Reason.com from WaPo, and one of the reasons given was that WaPo would not allow VC posters to use certain words, EVEN in text quoted verbatim from court filings.
It seems to me that words spoken or written by someone else should be given their original weight & meaning by including them in their entirety. If the quote-er wants to disclaim personal use of such words, he's obviously entitled to do so. And should do so.
To me, the quasi-euphemistic use IN A QUOTE of a symbolic word such as "n----r," is beyond useless: it's, well, maybe like wearing "blueberries" in a desert or jungle -- it serves no camouflaging purpose, but rather attracts more attention from than it intends or deserves.
IMHO
You're welcome to your opinion CC. But as HMS Defiant said, my blog, my rules. People get killed over racial epithets. I won't let those sort of words have any visibility here, ever.
DeleteAs this isn't a legal blog, as this isn't a literature blog, as I don't expect the commenters to provide unimpeachable sources for their quotes, the use of racial epithets is a no go in these parts.
Huckleberry Finn notwithstanding, there are far too many people I love and respect who find that particular word (and those like it) anathema. Half of my family is Asian, so there are certain words out of the Vietnam war which aren't spoken in my household, not even in jest.
I'm guessing the audience for this blog is primarily white, so as an old friend of mine put it, "White folk just don't get it at times." And you know what, we don't. Not until we've walked in their shoes.
And that's all I've got to say on this matter.
I realized I said "uncensored" instead of "censored". Oops.
DeleteFor the record, Mcbride did say that Leavelle did preface that comment with “As the old saying goes back then.” But Mcbride also said Leavelle said it with a little smile, as if he were genuinely amused by the remark, even saying that Leavelle never even apologized for saying it. He really did say that, yes, and I think it’s quite the shocking statement to make about anybody’s death. The origin of the quote lies in a conversation that author Joseph McBride had with Leavelle some years ago during McBride’s research. McBride had seemingly commented from hearing the recordings of the police interactions of November 22, 1963, that everyone sounded so calm considering the fact that the President had just been shot. Leavelle responded with the line quoted above, with the addition that he had seen many of those. The fact that Leavelle spoke about the death of the President that way may be surprising to many when it’s taken out of its significant historical and sociocultural context.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 1920s, Dallas took centre stage as the main chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. It is estimated that Dallas membership at the time presumably represented one out of three eligible men. Elections had seen Klansmen gain control over public offices. Both the city police commissioner and the county sheriff were a part of the Klan, as were many others working in law enforcement capacities. The Klan eventually closed its headquarters back in 1929.
Yet, racial issues in Dallas didn’t quite stop at that. In the early 1960s, it was one of the few cities still resisting integrating its classrooms – long after the decision ordering school desegregation. The civil rights movement was kept at bay in Dallas for the longest time. There are various notions out there that the existence of racial prejudice was predominant in the Dallas Police Department in those days as well, which would definitely fall in line with Leavelle’s quote that he shockingly never even apologised for saying. John F. Kennedy himself may have been of Irish descent, but his endorsement of the civil rights movement would not have endeared him any to those within Dallas wishing to uphold their old status quo. He would, in other words, “be no better than a n*****” – hostilities against Kennedy’s viewpoints were widespread in Dallas, regardless of the warm welcome he received on the day of the assassination, and I think that Leavelle’s quote comes from a very deep-set place of prejudice that is informed by the city’s history and the context of the times they were in.
And that's the correct way to handle using a quote containing a racial epithet in a comment.
DeleteIn an episode of The Simpsons-"Mayored To the Mob" Leavelle was the design for the bodyguard teacher. The academy is even titled "Leavelle's BodyGuard Academy."
ReplyDeleteMark Hamil voiced the character.
DeleteI'm not sure if I missed anything worthwhile, but I've never watched a single episode of The Simpsons.
DeleteThanks for the post, juvat. Very much up to standards.
ReplyDeletePaul L. Quandt
Thanks, Paul.
DeleteI served with a few WWII sailors.
ReplyDeleteGranted, they were a little older than and more senior to me.
If any had been at PH they said nothing about it.
In fact, most of those who’d seen combat didn’t much talk about it, except in technical terms relating to their jobs.
My uncle was at landings in both North Africa and, later, at Okinawa.
He said very little about either.
I gather your uncle was Navy? I don't know of any other service that would have been to both those places, although I could be wrong.
DeleteChief Boatwain's Mate, he and a couple of classmates joined the reserves in '39.
DeleteThey were activated in late 1940, before the U.S. entered the hostilities.
Well, I'm glad that he and those like him were around.
DeleteI think I've said this before and I'll say it again. I think the recorded interviews of the WWII Vets that are available at many of the exhibits in the Nimitz Museum make it better than all the rest. I only listened to a few due to time constraints, but will be back. I would expect that Mr. Leavelle and Mr. Alston wanted to be there, but I hope the folks that brought them understand how important their role is too. That having men like that there helps us never forget. After they have gone, their words, their photographs, and that museum, will hopefully stand the test of time for ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the fact that most of them are the "little guys", the actual folks doing the fighting and dying, rather than the commander watching from afar lends a whole different dimension of understanding to that exhibit. The interview with the tank commander who had his tank shot out from under him at Buna and seeing that exact tank in the exhibit...Well, as we tend to say around here, It got a little dusty.
DeleteDefinitely. I've helped out with Honor Flight out here a couple times. Plenty of those "actual folks" in that group too. Feels good to honor them like your museum does.
DeleteYep, WELL worth the days it would take to actually 'see' everything there. I figure two days, minimum to actually have time to take it all in. The ability to have those interviews are precious. This is one I also support, the Veteran's History Project- https://www.loc.gov/vets/
ReplyDeleteIt's about getting the histories from ALL veterans, regardless of service or rank.
Gonna look into that very shortly. Thanks
DeleteHow many of the Pearl Harbor vets are still alive? I recall reading a year or so ago that a veteran's group meeting was cancelled because there were too few surviving men in any condition to travel. Back in 1986 I worked briefly with an older black gentleman who told me that he was a sailor aboard the C Turner Joy during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident; he was already in his late 50s or early 60s. I sometimes wonder if he's still around. The Pearl Harbor vets must all be in their 90s by now....
ReplyDeleteGiven that this was the 76th Anniversary, even if a Big Kid fooled his recruiter and enlisted at 14, he'd be 90. That veteran's group meeting you heard about might have been the Doolittle Raiders. They cancelled it as there were only two left and neither was in good health. Sad as it is, it is a fact of life, and a good reason to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.
DeleteMy late Other Half's grandfather was a naval officer who was old enough to have served in WWII. Everyone knew he was in the US Navy but he spoke little about it. He was from Rhode Island, typical New Englander--all we knew about his naval service was that afterward he refused to eat fish. Someone, I assume a younger relative, asked him where he was on D-Day. All he said was, "Omaha Beach".
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking he was an SWO overlooking the bombardment of the beach and the landings taking place. How helpless he must have felt....
I got a similar feeling when we visited Normandy a few years ago. Standing on Pont Du Hoc and looking down on the beach, even as a Fighter Pilot, I realized how difficult that landing must have been and how easily the landing could have turned into a disaster. So, yeah, I could see that reaction.
DeleteI spent almost a week in San Antonio looking at potential houses for when I retired and I totally missed the National Museum of the Pacific War. Drat! Good post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Give me a shout if you're in the vic and we'll set up a visit.
DeleteLast spring I & my motor home stayed for several days at the RV park in Fredericksburg (south on S Washington St from Main St. then west on E Hwy). Did all the tourist things in town and in the general area, and the WW II in the Pacific Museum was a highlight. The town itself and the history of the German settlement of the Hill Country is fascinating, and it's a special treat to see the preservation of the "Sunday" houses, and other pioneer buildings.
ReplyDeleteIn her books about the history of the area, "The Adelsverein Trilogy" Celia Hayes smoothly incorporates Charlie Nimitz and his hotel into the plot thread.
Fredericksburg is a nice little town. The museum is first rate and has many artifacts that surprised me. Some things from Ensign George Gay of Torpedo 8 that went into the drink with him at Midway. The leather flying helmet that Saburo Sakai was wearing when he was hit in the head by a bullet near Guadalcanal. And, of course, the Japanese mini-sub that beached on Oahu. My wife and I and my parents toured the museum, and Dad and I read every exhibit and discussed things. It got close to closing time and and thought we were getting near the end when we went around a corner and discovered the other half of the museum. Mom's face just fell in dismay. Dad and I went back in the morning to see the rest of it (didn't take so long because the large exhibits like the sub and the PT boat are back there) while the women went shopping. Then we went to the firing demonstration of different weapons like Browning M-2s versus the Japanese strip-fed 'woodpecker', or the M1919 vs. a Nambu 99. Then the flamethrower, which was exciting. That was a good Veteran's Day. It was odd going through town and hearing automatic weapons fire off and on throughout the day...
DeleteThere was another Texas gentleman who was at both Pearl Harbor (well, near) and the JFK assassination, but I'll be damned if I can remember his name or get meaningful results from Google. He was a soldier who discovered the beached Ha-19 mini-sub. Not one of the ones who captured the surviving Japanese submariner, but the one whop spotted the sub itself in the surf. He was standing directly across the street from the Book Depository and had been taking pictures when the shooting started.
ReplyDeleteUm, he wasn't Italian 'whop', that's supposed to be a 'who'
DeleteIn November 2011, Leavelle had a serious fall while visiting his daughter Karla and was flown to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas for immediate surgery to remove his eye due to the severity of damage. As a result, he now wears a glass eye. Poor guy. :(
ReplyDelete