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  • #61
    4 November 1956: Soviet troops overrun Hungary

    The Soviet air force has bombed the Hungarian capital, Budapest and Russian troops have poured into the city in a massive dawn offensive.
    At least 1,000 Soviet tanks are reported to have entered Budapest and troops deployed throughout the country are battling with Hungarian forces for strategic positions.

    The Soviet invasion is a response to the national uprising led by Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who has promised the Hungarian people independence and political freedom.

    Mr Nagy's anti-Soviet policies, which include withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, have been worrying Eastern Bloc countries and Moscow has demanded his government's capitulation.

    Appeal to the West

    News of the attack came at 0515 local time on Radio Budapest in an urgent appeal by Mr Nagy himself for help from the West.

    Despite an apparent withdrawal only last week, Soviet troops deployed outside Budapest swept back into the capital with Russian and Romanian reinforcements between 0400 and 0800 local time.

    Artillery units pounded Budapest from the surrounding hills as Soviet MIG fighters bombarded the capital from the air.

    Sources say Soviet infantry units stormed the Parliament building, a key strategic and symbolic target, early this morning.

    'Crushed'

    Reports that Mr Nagy and other members of his cabinet were captured in the attack have not been confirmed.

    But in an unscheduled newscast on Moscow radio shortly after 1200GMT, Russia claimed to have "crushed the forces of reactionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people".

    Despite Moscow's claims, heavy fighting is reported to be continuing throughout the country for key installations such as railway stations and major bridges across the River Danube.

    Moscow is now backing a new breakaway Hungarian government led by Janos Kadar, whose stated purpose is to destroy Mr Nagy's "counter-revolution".

    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

    Comment


    • #62
      4 November 1979: Militants storm US embassy in Tehran

      Militant Islamic students in Iran have stormed the US embassy in the Iranian capital,Tehran, and taken more than 90 people hostage.
      The students have demanded that the Shah of Iran, who fled the country in January, be extradited from the US, where he is currently receiving medical treatment for cancer, to stand trial in Iran.

      It is reported that revolutionary guards and police did nothing to stop the take-over and Iranian television has indicated its support for the action by broadcasting live pictures of the siege.

      Ayatollah Rubollah Khomeini, who assumed control of Iran in February, has also voiced his support for the occupation.

      'Show of strength'

      It is not clear at this stage how many of the hostages are American although it is estimated that the figure is approximately 65.

      One of the hostage-takers, speaking to reporters by telephone from inside the embassy, gave assurances that there was no immediate danger to the hostages, that they were safe and were being fed.

      He said the action was a show of strength and the hostages could be released in the next two or three days.

      Supporters of the siege, many of them children, have gathered outside the embassy. Some have set fire to American flags and have posted anti-American messages around the building.

      As yet there has been no official reaction to the siege from America.

      The storming of the embassy follows months of political and religious tension in Iran.

      Violent protests against Shah Reza Pahlavi's regime culminated in a revolution coordinated by Ayatollah Khomeini from exile in France.

      In January the Shah and his family fled Iran and are currently in the US.

      Within weeks, Ayatollah Khomeini, who had been expelled from Iran by the Shah in 1964, returned to Iran and was greeted by more than five million devotees lining the streets of Tehran.

      The Ayatollah immediately dismissed Prime Minister Shapur Bahktiar and installed Mehdi Bzargan as his replacement.

      He declared an Islamic Republic of Iran in April and since then he has presided over a brutal and repressive regime.

      Thousands of westerners living in Iran have already fled the country in fear of their lives.

      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

      Leibniz

      Comment


      • #63
        4 November 1980: Reagan beats Carter in landslide

        The former Hollywood actor and Republican governor of California Ronald Reagan is to be the next president of the United States.
        He has defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter in the US presidential elections by a huge majority.

        At the age of 69, Mr Reagan will be America's oldest president. His running mate, former head of the CIA George Bush, will be his vice-president.

        The Republicans took state after state in the east, south and mid-west, with results from their stronghold in the west still to come. So far Mr Reagan's electoral vote tally stands at 238 while Mr Carter's is just 35.

        Attack on economy

        In the last speech of his campaign last night, Mr Reagan with his wife Nancy, addressed 30,000 supporters at a car park of a shopping centre in San Diego, California.

        He spoke of the state of the American economy under President Carter as "a major tragedy for the American family".

        "In eight years here as your governor," he said, "I learned to have faith in you, the people and I envision a leadership as President taking government off your backs and turning you loose to do what I know you can do best."

        His speech was followed by a dazzling firework display after which he returned to his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles to spend polling day resting.

        The outgoing president's popularity has suffered following the energy crisis and petrol queues. It seems his failure to negotiate a release of US hostages currently held in Iran has sealed his fate.

        Surveys of public opinion also suggest Mr Reagan's performance in last Tuesday's televised debate convinced many he was the most suitable candidate.


        I can stand here and say it doesn't hurt


        President Carter


        President Carter is the first elected sitting president to be defeated since Herbert Hoover was beaten by Franklin D Roosevelt in 1932.

        Even before the polls closed on the West coast, he drove from the White House to a Washington hotel to address his supporters an hour after congratulating Mr Reagan by phone.

        He told them: "I can stand here and say it doesn't hurt."

        Putting on a brave smile he added: "The people of the United States have made their choice and I accept that decision."

        Mr Carter remains president until Mr Reagan is inaugurated next January.

        In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

        Leibniz

        Comment


        • #64
          Busy and contrasting day, 4 November.......
          In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

          Leibniz

          Comment


          • #65
            Armistice Day, Rememberance Day, Veterans Day

            History of Armistice Day
            At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, the Armistice marked the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front. The "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" thereafter became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the First World War.
            1919: Introduction of the Silent Tribute
            On the first anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1919, two minutes silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony in Whitehall, London. King George V had personally requested all the people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of the Armistice. Two minutes' silence was popularly adopted and it became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day.

            1920: Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
            On the second anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front. Unknown soldiers were interred with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey attracted over one million people within a week to pay their respects. Most other allied nations adopted the tradition of entombing unknown soldiers in their capitals over the following decade: Washington, Rome and Brussels in 1921, Prague and Belgrade in 1922, and later Warsaw and Athens. However, the New Zealand government rejected a proposal in 1921 for New Zealand to have its own Unknown Warrior on the grounds that the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey represented New Zealand's war dead. During the 1940s and 1950s the NZRSA renewed the call for New Zealand to have its own Unknown Warrior or even Unknown Warriors, one to represent each World War, without success.

            1919-45: Armistice Day in New Zealand
            While eventually overshadowed by ANZAC Day, it was marked solemnly in New Zealand with the traditional two minutes' silence at 11 am, when pedestrians and traffic stopping in the streets to observe the silence. The observance of two commemorative days symbolised New Zealanders' emerging sense of national identity, albeit within the wider context of the empire. Armistice Day was shared with the empire; Anzac Day belonged to New Zealand (and Australia).

            1925: First Rose Day

            Alexander Turnbull Library


            First Rose Day in Wellington
            In 1925, Wellington RSA instituted the inaugural Rose Day which raised funds for the Wellington Citizens' Memorial. In later years many RSAs held their own Rose Days in order to raise funds for many community as well as RSA projects (and in contrast to the Poppy Day Appeal that was solely for the welfare of returned service personnel and dependants in need). By 1944, the Dominion Council of the NZRSA was encouraging the holding of Rose Day on a nationwide basis on the Friday before Armistice Day.

            1946: Introduction of Remembrance Day
            After the Second World War, the British and her Dominions, including New Zealand, agreed to change the name and date of Armistice Day to Remembrance Day, now to be observed on the Sunday prior to 11 November (it was later transferred to the second Sunday in November). Armistice Day was no longer viewed as an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate the war dead of both World Wars. In short, Remembrance Day "Sundayised" the observance of Armistice Day. For the first observance of Remembrance Day in 1946, New Zealanders were requested to attend traditional remembrance services and to observe two minutes' silence at 11 a.m., when citizens and vehicles were to halt in the streets. On the whole, Remembrance Day was observed in this manner during the late 1940s.

            By the mid 1950s, however, the public gradually lost interest in commemorating Remembrance Day despite the best efforts of the RSA, including an unsuccessful approach to government to revert back to an observance on 11 November. The RSA believed that the decline of Remembrance Day was a result of its "Sundayisation" and the loss of the association with the eleventh hour of the 11 November.

            Armistice Day again
            Since the 1990s the United Kingdom and many countries of the Commonwealth have increasingly returned to commemorate Armistice Day 11 November because the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" has so much significance. In 1995, for example, the Royal British Legion embarked on a campaign for the reintroduction of two minutes' silence on 11 November at 11 a.m., which steadily gained momentum to the point where today it is estimated that three-quarters of the population of the United Kingdom participate in the observance. In Australia, meanwhile, the interment of an Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993 brought renewed attention to the day and in 1997 Australia's Governor-General issued a proclamation formally declaring 11 November Remembrance Day and urging all Australians to observe one minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year.

            In New Zealand too, since the 75th Anniversary of the Armistice in 1993 was commemorated throughout the country, the RSA has promoted the observance of 11 a.m. on Armistice Day with remembrance services at the National War Memorial in Wellington and at local war memorials throughout the country.

            On Armistice Day 2004 the Unknown Warrior was interred at the National War Memorial following a Memorial Service at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and a Military Funeral Procession watched by an estimated 100,000 people.

            Veterans' Day (formerly Armistice Day)
            November 11, is the anniversary of the Armistice which was signed in the Forest of Compiegne by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I, after four years of conflict.
            At 5 A.M. on Monday, November 11, 1918 the Germans signed the Armistice, an order was issued for all firing to cease; so the hostilities of the First World War ended. This day began with the laying down of arms, blowing of whistles, impromptu parades, closing of places of business. All over the globe there were many demonstrations; no doubt the world has never before witnessed such rejoicing.
            In November of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Armistice Day proclamation. The last paragraph set the tone for future observances:
            To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation.

            In 1927 Congress issued a resolution requesting President Calvin Coolidge to issue a proclamation calling upon officials to display the Flag of the United States on all government buildings on November 11, and inviting the people to observe the day in schools and churches...But it was not until 1938 that Congress passed a bill that each November 11 "shall be dedicated to the cause of world peace and ...hereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day."
            That same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill making the day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. For sixteen years the United States formally observed Armistice Day, with impressive ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the Chief Executive or his representative placed a wreath. In many other communities, the American Legion was in charge of the observance, which included parades and religious services. At 11 A.M. all traffic stopped, in tribute to the dead, then volleys were fired and taps sounded.
            After World War II, there were many new veterans who had little or no association with World War I. The word, "armistice," means simply a truce; therefore as years passed, the significance of the name of this holiday changed. Leaders of Veterans' groups decided to try to correct this and make November 11 the time to honor all who had fought in various American wars, not just in World War I.
            In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veterans' Day observance. Ed Rees, of Emporia, was so impressed that he introduced a bill into the House to change the name to Veterans' Day. After this passed, Mr. Rees wrote to all state governors and asked for their approval and cooperation in observing the changed holiday. The name was changed to Veterans' Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. In October of that year, President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace. The President referred to the change of name to Veterans' Day in honor of the servicemen of all America's wars.
            For The Fallen
            With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
            England mourns for her dead across the sea.
            Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
            Fallen in the cause of the free.

            Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
            Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
            There is music in the midst of desolation
            And a glory that shines upon our tears.

            They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
            Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
            They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
            They fell with their faces to the foe.

            They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
            Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
            At the going down of the sun and in the morning
            We will remember them.

            They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
            They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
            They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
            They sleep beyond England's foam.

            But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
            Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
            To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
            As the stars are known to the Night;

            As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
            Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
            As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
            To the end, to the end, they remain.
            In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

            Leibniz

            Comment


            • #66
              bloody sunday 30 january 1972

              On the 30th of january 1972, 14 unarmed boys and men were killed by British paratrooper during a demonstration march of Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the Derry, Northern Ireland.

              a day to remember...

              Age Name: 59 John Johnston (died a day later in the hospital) 41 Bernard McGuigan 34 Geral McKinney 31 Patrick Dohetry 22 James Wray 20 Michael McDaid 19 William Nash 17 John Young 17 John Duddy 17 Kevin McElhimey 17 Gerald Donaghy 17 Hugh Gilmore

              in 2002 they made a film about it, with music from U2

              Comment


              • #67
                Apollo 12

                I have a confession to make. Well actually two but I'll get to that shortly. One night, or rather early one morning around about 1969 my father came into my room, dragged me protesting from my bed, bundled me into my clothes over top of my pyjamas and drove me to where he worked. I was a bit grumpy about this as I had been there the evening before, stood in a long queue of adults in the showroom of his work and had one glimpse of a poorly maintained derelict piece of machinery that looked like it had come off the top of an old hopper. Usually this gleaming white room contained the very latest Ford: Zephyr, Zodiac, Falcon, "crafted in Australia!", or if you were of more modest means, a Prefect or Cortina from the U.K., 3 months from purchase to delivery.
                Now, as I say, the gleaming cars were gone and in it's place was a positively disgraceful piece of machinery that looked as though it should be in the yard out the back where old farm equipment was broken down for spare parts and new machines created by my dad when he wasn't maintaining the gleaming Fords.
                So anyhow, here I am at two in the morning, once more in the spotless showroom, the main lights turned on again but this time only myself and my father there to see them, every other New Zealander being sensibly tucked up in bed. So for the next fifteen minutes I had a spacecraft all to myself.
                I hasten to add at this point that I was still under the restriction of no touching, not once did my greasy little nine or so year old paw enter the same spatial dimensions as the craft in question.
                Now I can't for the life of me recall whether it was a Mercury or Gemini; I certainly recall the seat(s), a rough assembly of tubular steel and webbing that looked as though dad could have knocked it up in five minutes, but whether there were two seats or one I cannot say. Row upon row of buttons and switches are a blur in my memory. I can however recall the ablative shield in minute detail, the fine cracking, the off-centre burn pattern where the main heat damage was centred by the pilots right foot, that overall look of a simple clear earthenware glaze. As dad described the re-entry processes, the enormous heat generated "Much hotter than his welding torch!", I mapped out the physical realities, a quarter inch from my nose.
                Now I guess dad could have got in a lot of trouble for this, but the Airforce? gentlemen who were escorting it, after being feed half a sheep each, generously roasted in butter and accompanied by a quart of cold beer were tucked up in bed, quite possibly with one or more members of the local lonely hearts club; everyone else in NZ went to bed at 9.30, and even the street lights were turned off at eleven, so it was a risk he was willing to take and if I didn't already have sufficient reason I would love him forever for this one thing.

                Seemingly a short time later I remember standing in Miss Greens pottery class at school, listening over the schools P.A. system with the headmaster holding the microphone to his transistor radio as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went for a walk on the moon.

                Now I've chosen to write about this not on the anniversary of that great day, which I have already noted in this thread, but on the anniversary of Apollo 12, which is my favourite mission. It's my favourite partly because of the early tension of the mission, where virtually the entire electrical system dropped through the floor when the spacecraft was struck by lightning less than a minute into the flight. Partly it was the humour, Pete Conrad, all of five foot four, "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me." But mostly it is because of this photo and what it says.



                Astronaut Charles 'Pete' Conrad works at removing the camera from Surveyor 3, which had landed on the moon over a year previously. Photo: Alan Bean



                There are no flags in this photo, there is no earth reflected in someone's visor or rising over the horizon. No golf clubs or four wheel drives. What there is is the proof that all the other missions were feasible, that the great geologic missions of 15, 16 & 17 were worth the time and energy. Apollo 11 proved that you could land on the moon and return safely to earth: Apollo twelve proved that you couldn't just land on the moon, you could do it in your designated parking spot. As Al Bean himself commented while slapping Pete Conrad on the back "Good landing, Pete! Out-staand-ing, man!"

                This in a roundabout sort of way leads to my second confession. I have until recently held the country of the United States Of America to a higher standard than any other country, except perhaps my own. The gross unfairness of this, where the European countries have been able to get away with gross misconduct and still not be judged so harshly by me as the failings of the US has its genesis in the events described above. At a formative time of my youth, men of such calibre did such deeds that any subsequent action of that country from whence they came could not measure against their standard.
                Whenever America did such things that were less than the perfection of what these men achieved I was outraged, far more so than if some other country had done the same misdeed.
                Now of course things have changed. Through reading on this and other boards and through further progression along the never ending path of growing up I've come to realise that Americans, while spelling rather oddly and having strange names for things, are pretty much just the same as the rest of us and are just as entitled as the rest of us to f*ck up without having the whole world abuse the crap out of them because of it.
                So anyhow, confessions over and I'm almost done. I'd just like to raise a glass to the gentlemen who, when I show my little girl old maps with dragons and monsters on them and then take her outside and show her the full moon, make it possible for me to say to her "there's no dragons and monsters on the moon, but there are the footsteps of giants."
                In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                Leibniz

                Comment


                • #68
                  22 November 1963: President Kennedy shot dead in Dallas

                  The President of the United States has been assassinated by a gunman in Dallas, Texas.

                  John F Kennedy was hit in the head and throat when three shots were fired at his open-topped car.

                  The presidential motorcade was travelling through the main business area of the city.

                  Texas Governor John Connally was also seriously injured when one of the unknown sniper's bullets hit him in the back.

                  The men were accompanied by their wives, who were both uninjured.

                  Vice-president Lyndon Johnson - who was following in a different car - has been sworn in as the new US leader.

                  The presidential party was driving from Dallas airport to the city centre when witnesses said shots were fired from the window of a building overlooking the road.

                  The president collapsed into Jackie Kennedy's arms, who was heard to cry "Oh no". Seconds later Governor Connally was also hit.

                  Dallas Times Herald photographer Bob Jackson was in the motorcade close behind the Democrat leader's car and heard the shots as it entered Dealey Plaza.

                  "As I looked up I saw a rifle being pulled back from a window - it might have been resting on the windowsill - I didn't see a man," he said.

                  Mr Kennedy's limousine was driven at speed to Parklands Hospital immediately after the shooting.

                  The president was alive when he was admitted, but died at 1400 local time (1900 GMT) - 35 minutes after being shot.

                  Police and Secret Service agents stormed the School Book Depository building moments after the shots were fired and recovered a rifle with a telescopic sight, said to be the assassination weapon.

                  The mood of shock in the US was echoed by Senator Mike Mansfield in an emergency forum of the senate.

                  "This is terrible - I cannot find words," he said.

                  In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                  Leibniz

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    3 December 1984: Hundreds die in Bhopal chemical accident

                    Hundreds of people have died from the effects of toxic gases which leaked from a chemical factory near the central Indian city of Bhopal.

                    The accident happened in the early hours of this morning at the American-owned Union Carbide Pesticide Plant three miles (4.8 km) from Bhopal.

                    Mr Y P Gokhale, managing director of Union Carbide in India, said that methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plant's underground storage tank broke under pressure.


                    Mothers didn't know their children had died, children didn't know their mothers had died and men didn't know their whole families had died

                    Ahmed Khan, Bhopal resident
                    This caused a deadly cloud of lethal gas to float from the factory over Bhopal, which is home to more than 900,000 people - many of whom live in slums.

                    Chaos and panic broke out in the city and surrounding areas as tens of thousands of people attempted to escape.

                    More than 20,000 people have required hospital treatment for symptoms including swollen eyes, frothing at the mouth and breathing difficulties.

                    Thousands of dead cats, dogs, cows and birds litter the streets and the city's mortuaries are filling up fast.

                    Bhopal resident, Ahmed Khan, said: "We were choking and our eyes were burning. We could barely see the road through the fog, and sirens were blaring.

                    "We didn't know which way to run. Everybody was very confused.

                    "Mothers didn't know their children had died, children didn't know their mothers had died and men didn't know their whole families had died."

                    The Union Carbide factory was closed immediately after the accident and three senior members of staff arrested.

                    Medical and scientific experts have been dispatched to the scene and the Indian government has ordered a judicial inquiry.

                    It is understood the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, will be flying to the area within the next few days.
                    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                    Leibniz

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      3 December
                      1971: Pakistan intensifies air raids on India

                      Border battles between India and Pakistan have erupted into full-scale war.

                      Jets from West Pakistan have attacked at least four Indian airports, with reports eight airfields have been struck.

                      The West Pakistan Government said it was in retaliation for a major ground offensive against the area by the Indian army.

                      This has been denied by New Delhi.

                      Initial reports of the Pakistani air attacks were unclear but both capitals confirmed the Indian airports of Amritsar, Pathankot, Avantipur and Sringar were hit.

                      The Indian Government has declared a state of emergency.


                      We must be prepared for a long period of hardship and sacrifice

                      India PM Indira Gandhi
                      In a broadcast to the nation, India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, said the Pakistani war against Bangladesh has become one against their homeland.

                      Mrs Gandhi said the town of Agra, 120 miles south of New Delhi, and the site of the Taj Mahal, had been hit.

                      "We must be prepared for a long period of hardship and sacrifice," she said.

                      In West Pakistan, President Yahya Khan, called up "essential persons and ex-servicemen who have no reserve liability".

                      The current eruption of military strikes comes in a conflict which dates back to March after President Khan's attack on the independence movement in East Pakistan.

                      President Khan believed the Indian Government supports East Pakistani rebels with training and arms.

                      The United Nations is understood to be discussing the possibility of invoking Security Council intervention in the conflict.
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor
                        Japan has launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and has declared war on Britain and the United States.
                        The US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, has mobilised all his forces and is poised to declare war on Japan.

                        Details of the attack in Hawaii are scarce but initial reports say Japanese bombers and torpedo-carrying planes targeted warships, aircraft and military installations in Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, the principal island of Hawaii.

                        News of the daring raid has shocked members of Congress at a time when Japanese officials in Washington were still negotiating with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull on lifting US sanctions imposed after continuing Japanese aggression against China.


                        He remembered that moment [Pearl Harbor] in later years as the end of one existence and the beginning of another


                        People's War memories »


                        At 0755 local time the first wave of between 50 and 150 planes struck the naval base for 35 minutes causing several fires and "untold damage" to the Pacific Fleet.

                        The Japanese squadrons dropped high-explosive and incendiary bombs.

                        A second strike followed at about 0900 when a force of at least 100 planes pounded the base for an hour.

                        At least two Japanese airplanes have been shot down but it is reported that at least 350 men were killed by one single bomb at the Hickman Army Air Field, an Air Corps post on Oahu.

                        Officials announced a further 104 Army personnel were killed and 300 were wounded in the raid.

                        It is believed the attack was launched from two aircraft carriers.

                        One radio report says US forces downed six Japanese planes and sunk four submarines.

                        There are reports the Hawaiian capital Honolulu was also bombed as well as the Pacific island of Guam and the capital of the Philippines, Manila.

                        A British gunboat, the Peterel, has also been sunk at Shanghai in China.

                        Reports from Singapore suggest a build-up of Japanese warships in the South China Sea and seem to be headed for the Gulf of Siam, towards Bangkok.

                        President Roosevelt is working on a message to Congress tomorrow in which he is expected to ask for a declaration of war with Japan.

                        The Times newspaper's Washington correspondent says the US Government expects Germany and Italy to declare war on the US within hours.

                        Although the attack has shocked the American people there is little doubt that it had been brewing for some years.

                        Relations with the United States have deteriorated since 1931 when Japan occupied Manchuria in northern China. Over the last decade conflict has intensified into a full-scale war between Japan and China.

                        Last year, the US imposed trade sanctions on Japan.

                        Then in September 1940 Japan signed a Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. It became a formal member of the Axis alliance fighting the European war but continued to negotiate with America for trade concessions until today.

                        Japan's fury over the embargoes and allied support for China prompted a declaration of war.

                        A very solem Thank You to our Vets and current Military men and women its been 64 years ago today. There are many that remember it as clearly as yesterday and some that are still haunted by its memories.
                        A link about Arizona's history. http://ussarizona.org/home/content/view/7/8/100/
                        Attached Files
                        Last edited by Dreadnought; 07 Dec 05,, 15:26.
                        Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) -- Survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor will join sailors, community leaders and guests on Wednesday for the 64th anniversary of the assault.

                          The crowd will observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. -- the moment the attack began in 1941.

                          A U.S. Navy ship will honor the USS Arizona, which lies submerged in Pearl Harbor with the bodies of hundreds of sailors still aboard. The Hawaii Air National Guard will fly F-15s in formation over the harbor.

                          The Navy's chief uniformed officer, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, is scheduled to address the crowd along with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, who saw and heard Japanese planes drop bombs on Oahu as a teenager in Honolulu.

                          Navy reservists from the USS Ward, which fired the first shots of the war when its crew spotted and sank a Japanese midget submarine, will also be honored.

                          The December 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases on Oahu lasted two hours, leaving 21 U.S. ships heavily damaged and 323 aircraft damaged or destroyed.

                          It killed 2,390 people and wounded 1,178
                          Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            A very fitting picture for today Dec 7,2005. The beginning of WWII symbolized by The Arizona (BB39 Pennsylvania class) under the watchfull eye of her much younger sister The Missouri (BB63 Iowa class) which ended WWII on her decks so many years ago and brought peace again to a world ravaged by war on a scale never seen again ever since. And hopefully because of ALL of their sacrifices will never be seen again. The Greatest Generation indeed!
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                            Last edited by Dreadnought; 07 Dec 05,, 18:48.
                            Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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                            • #74
                              Nice, Dreadnought :)
                              In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                              Leibniz

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                              • #75
                                Originally posted by parihaka
                                Nice, Dreadnought :)
                                Thanks. I had to stop by the VFW yesterday as they were raising the colors.
                                We have several Pearl Harbor Vets that live around us. Very moving when you see these men that are fathers, grandfathers etc cry at the looses they endured while standing and saluting as stiff as a board as the colors are raised as frail as they are and irregardless of weather conditions.

                                I truelly dont believe the world will ever produce a greater generation then these men and women were. And an even larger shame is the amount of press this very day gets every year by generations who either have forgotten their sacrifice or just dont want to know. We the younger generations could stand to learn alot from these men and women.
                                Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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