ORIGINAL PEARL HARBOR PHOTOS
Never seen these before—-must be somebody’s private pictures they saved all this time.
These pic’s are so clear….very sad….but, good that we can see them……
THE FELLOW WHO SENT THESE RECEIVED THEM FROM AN OLD SHIPMATE ON THE USS QUAPAW
ATF-11O. INTERESTING AS HE’S NEVER SEEN THEM ANYWHERE ELSE.
I THINK THEY’RE SPECTACULAR.
PEARL HARBOR December 7th, 1941
You’re right. They are spectacular. And very sad.
I’m glad you shared them.
These are great pictures Knuckle. My dad just had a few that didn’t last long.
BTW, I happy belated B’day. I wasn’t around that day.
Belated B`day?
Sorry Knuckle, it just hit me it was Clammy.
But I’m sure I missed your last one so……
Wow. Thanks for sharing the pictures. My uncle was a career Navy man who enlisted right after Pearl Harbor. He spent the war in the Pacific on three air-craft carriers. He was a crewman on the flight deck, a very dangerous job.
Dangerous indeed. I spent many dangerous times at sea as a merchant marine, but looking at newsreel footage of action on the carrier decks, makes me glad I was never on a flat-top. Also, because of the importance of an aircraft carrier as a prime target, there`s also the expectation of the unexpected danger at all times.
Two of his ships were shot out underneath him. Off all the stories he told me, the one that sticks with me, probably because it still upsets him after all these years, is the guys who became hypnotized by the motion of the propellers and walked right into them. He told me that he had at least a dozen of his crew die this way. I think that these horrific, but accidental, deaths in the middle of a war, seemed like more than men should have to face.
Extrapolate that to the young men & women in Iraq, & remember how your dad is still affected after all these years.
You got it. And in their homes and streets as well, not out at sea in active engagement with an enemy.
Check your e mail in BdBsP
great find Head…here’s a LINK to more in the collection
Hey dada, I got these yesterday from a friend. I did some work for a POW section of a veteran`s museum in Tuscon & Fort Worth, for a mutual friend of his, so he sends me some pretty unusual stuff. A lot of it concerns special photo shoots of military aircraft that are open to a select # of people. Not that it`s top secret or anything, but the close-up views of some of the planes in flight, fully armed with bomb bays open is not something one would see at an air show. I checked the link & my friend sent all of those.
I`ll try & find some of my work for my friend who was in the 390th BG[H] POW . He was a cheek gunner on a B-17 in the “Square J”. He was a pow from 1943-45. The BG[H] = bomber group [heavy]. Some of the things he tells me are almost unbelievable, but his reference books & historical articles bear him out. Not to mention he`s a hell of a nice guy, I`ve known for 25 yrs.
congrats KH on your pixs. it is a great collection to have. thanks for sharing with us. hugs and hope you can share some other stories of this era with us and yours too. hugs.
Your very welcome & …We`ll see.
Did you ever notice that you can`t give a hug without getting one in return.
Memory… for good and for bad:
I posted this diary as a photographer. To take this quality of photos, in the innocence of seeing & living in this horrible devastation, & still be able to record it as documentary, is proof of professionalism. I can only imagine what this person was thinking while shooting these scenes, & even wonder what you`d be doing in his place. I make no judgements except to the horrors of war. I hope you enjoyed these historic photos as only photos. I posted them without personal commentary because they have previously been rarely seen. Had these been newly discovered photos of Japanese in internment camps or Native Americans being systematically killed, you can believe I would post them also. I did not take your comment as a personal affront, nor as an affront to anybody here, but I could be wrong.
I had more a general “philosophical” point. From the professional angle, the pictures are amazingly exceptional and unique. I do not want to say that the pictures should not see the light – it is incredible that they exist. In fact, the reason I posted something here was to have a quick reference to this diary right from my comments list. Memory is not a bad thing, but different memories may have different value. The photos represent facts. It is ideologies that manipulate. I am glad you “asked” me to clarify that.
I very much appreciate you responding. You make my point perfectly with the “philosophical” note. Furthermore, look where ” ideologies” took us.
I`m pleased also that you recognized that I was “asking”.
Have a good day/night.
Knucklehead, I didn’t get a chance to thank you for posting these yesterday. My dad flew out of Pearl for a while in WWII – then to parts west. They are such good photos, I wish he could have seen them. (But then, after seeing them, he probably would have gone out into the woods alone for several hours if not days and not spoken of it for quite a while.)
They are quite gripping.
Thank you Kidspeak, Can you imagine being able to shut down & concentrate on recording history in a situation like this, & seemingly have your compositional & creative instincts take over without fighting those instincts of anger, revenge, outrage, ect. which tend to blind people.
Regarding your father`s probable reaction to them, that`s something very personal to him, & could well be a very productive time of meditation & introspection. He`s to be commended for serving well & obviously has not shut himself out to you, no matter that he might choose to not speak about past occurences in his life.