Top two Uncle Charlie at Pearl Harbor.
This one he was in military school as I remember, but I can't make out the buttons. Could they possibly be Sic Semper Tyrannis ones from a Virginia school? Plus could the item on his left collar be a rank designation? Any help would be appreciated.
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Via Bernhard
The
sacrifices of those who served in the American military in December,
1941 should be recounted often for us all to ponder and appreciate and
the 3000 Americans who died at Pearl Harbor should not have perished in
vain. The sincerest memorial to those who fought and died in this
tragedy (and others) is to analyze and discuss the multitude of reasons
why it happened, and how do we ensure that American servicemen are not
knowingly put in harm’s way for political purposes ever again. As there
is far too much information available today for the surprise attack
myth to survive scrutiny, and thanks to the Freedom of Information Act
and declassification of hundreds of thousands of decoded Japanese
messages, we can now get a more clear picture of how events unfolded in
1941.
The
myth reported by court historians and the media is that the US was
minding its own business until the Japanese launched an unprovoked
attack at Pearl Harbor, thereby dragging a reluctant US into a world
struggle. In reality, the US under FDR had been deeply involved in Far
Eastern affairs for some time, and those policies actually provoked the
Japanese attack.
As
Oliver Lyttleton, British Minister of Production stated in 1944….”Japan
was provoked into attacking America at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty
to say that America was forced into the War.”
After
FDR’s numerous provocations toward Germany without retaliation (while
the US was neutral) he switched his focus to Japan and had assistance
with Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, who stated in October 1941
that “for a long time I have believed that our best entrance into the
war would be by way of Japan”. And as early as January 27th,
1941, US Ambassador to Japan in Tokyo, Joseph C. Grew noted in his
diary that...”there is a lot of talk around town to the effect that the
Japanese, in case of a break with the US, are planning to go all out in a
surprise mass attack on Pearl Harbor. Of course, I informed our
government.”
Even
Admiral Ernest J. King wrote a prescient report on 31 March 1941 that
predicted a surprise Japanese dawn air attack on Hawaii as the opening
of hostilities. The US had prepared for a Japanese-American conflict
since 1906 with “War Plan Orange” which predicted the Philippines as the
expected target, attacked by surprise as the Japanese were notorious
for. By early 1940 Claire Chennault, the American airman hired by the
Chinese, was urging General Hap Arnold and Roosevelt to provide bombers
with which to firebomb Japanese cities in retaliation for their attacks
on China.
While
we cannot excuse Japan’s aggressiveness in Asia in the 1930’s, our
government continually provoked the Japanese by freezing assets in the
US, closing the Panama Canal to her shipping and progressively reducing
exports to Japan until it became an all-out embargo along with
Britain’s.
The Philippines, by 1941 were reinforced to the point of
being the strongest US overseas base with 120,000 troops and the
Philippine Army had been called into service by FDR. General MacArthur
had 74 medium and heavy bombers along with 175 fighters that included
the new B-17’s and P-40E’s with which to attack or defend with. The
mobilization of troops and munitions has always been recognized as
preparation for attack and we thus assumed this posture to the Japanese.
We
then implied military threats to Tokyo if it did not alter its Asian
policies and on 26 November 1941, FDR issued an ultimatum that Japan
withdraw all military forces from China and Indochina as well as break
its treaty with Germany and Italy. The day before the 26 November
ultimatum was sent , Secretary of War Stimson wrote in his Diary that
“the question was how we should maneuver them (the Japanese) into the
position of firing the first shot”. The bait offered was our Pacific
fleet.
In
1940, Admiral J.O. Richardson, the commander of the Pacific Fleet flew
to Washington to protest FDR’s decision to base the fleet in Hawaii
instead of its normal berthing on the US west coast.
His concern was that Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack, was
difficult to defend against torpedo planes, lacked fuel supplies and dry
docks. Richardson came away from his
meeting with FDR “with the impression that, despite his spoken word,
the President was fully determined to put the US into the war if Great
Britain could hold out until he was reelected.”
Richardson
was summarily relieved of command and replaced with Admiral Kimmel, who
was still concerned about Pearl Harbor’s vulnerability, but did not
challenge FDR.
Also
to be considered was the April, 1941 ABD Agreement FDR concluded with
the British and Dutch in Indochina that committed US troops to war if
the Dutch East Indies were invaded by the Japanese. Add to this the
1940 $25 million loan and Lend-Lease aid provided to China. The Dutch
and British were of course eager for US forces to protect their Far
Eastern colonial empires
from the Japanese while their military was busy in a European war. And
FDR’s dilemma was his 1940 election pledge of non-intervention (unless
attacked) to the American people and the US Constitution, which allowed
only Congress authority to declare war.
One
of the most revealing elements in FDR’s beforehand knowledge of Japan’s
intentions was our breaking of the Japanese diplomatic and naval
operations codes as early as mid-1939. Copies of all deciphered Japanese
messages were delivered to Roosevelt and the Secretaries of War, State
and Navy, as well as Army Chief of Staff Marshall and Chief of Naval
Operations, Admiral Harold Stark.
With no deciphering machines in Pearl
Harbor, although 3 machines went to Britain, the commanders in Pearl
Harbor were left completely dependent upon Washington for information.
It must be understood that with this deciphered information, our
government officials could not have been better informed had they had
seats in the Japanese war council.
It
is in this bare political light that Pearl Harbor should be examined
and judged for historical perspective. Our military should not be a
pawn used by presidents to initiate war and this is the
basic reason the Founders deliberated extensively on the establishment
of a standing army which might be used as such. As nothing happens in a
vacuum and the post-World War One US Neutrality Acts were in place to
avoid the political machinations that dragged us into that conflict,
FDR’s very steady erosion of US neutrality and secret agreements led to
that unnecessary loss of brave American servicemen. We hopefully have
learned from this.
