Note Delivered Ten Years Later
We saw bumper stickers and signs that proclaimed “Never Forget”, but of course as time goes on, people do. Those that were too young to remember any part of it will just look back at it like the moon landing for me. It’s just something they hear the older people talk about and what they seen in video. Some towns even choose to not particularly do anything special for this day, today September 11. But I hope to do what I can to keep people aware of the horrible events that happened eleven years ago today.
One example is this article about a note that was delivered to a family ten years after the tragedy occurred.
Randy Scott was working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 on the 84th floor. That floor was in the impact zone of the second plane and for years, his family had assumed he was killed instantly and never suffered.
Then in August of last year, his family received word of a note that was traced back with DNA analysis of a blood spot on the note. The note read:
“84th floor
West Office
12 people trapped”
We’ve seen the impact on video, we’ve seen the burning buildings. I think we all assumed that those on the floors that were hit died instantly. Not all of them did. Many suffered needlessly. It’s those innocent people included in the 2,977 who died that we need to remember and honor on this day.
“Never” is a very long time, but 11 years is not so long. Someday the events will lose their relevance and be replaced in our collective memory, but that day determined the world we still live in today and is still worth reflecting upon.
Let’s see how much commemoration of December 7th is done this year. Factoid: the famous sound bite “this is no drill, this is no drill” is the voice of Jason Robards, he was a radio man at Pearl Harbor.
Warrington, exactly! Many people today have no idea what a mention of that date even means. But I guarantee you that people who were around then sure haven’t forgotten. Unfortunately, the same will happen with September 11.
RE: Jason Robards
Actually, he was not in Pearl on Dec. 7; he was radioman on the heavy cruiser Northamtpon, which was a half-day out of Pearl, part of Admiral Halsey’s Enterprise group. They should have been in Pearl that morning, but were delayed due to a snafu at sea, which likely saved the Enterprise group, Halsey, Robards and many others to fight on.
Robards was still on Northampton on 30 Nov. 1942 when she was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off Guadalcanal.
Warrington Faust,
If you’ve never been to Oahu on December 7, I’ll be happy to inform you that Pearl Harbor is not forgotten and many solemn tributes, respect and services are made to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and are still entombed in the USS Arizona also those laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) and those laid to rest at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery with included military missing man fly-overs.
Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial remain the most popular visitor attractions in Hawaii, with over 1,600,000 visitors annually. The addition of the Battleship Missouri Memorial in 1999, the opening of the Pacific Aviation Museum in 2006 and a new Pearl Harbor Visitor Center in 2010 has further enhanced the experience at this historic area.
Pearl Harbor is the only place in the world you can see the U.S.A. entry into WWII and the U.S.A. ending of WWII in the same place.
Pearl Harbor is a most treasured and respected place in Hawaii along with the other military airfields that were bombed and strafed; city, government and hotels that were converted for military use and the subsequent internment camps that were constructed housing Japanese Americans.
Maybe December 7th may not mean too much to you people on the mainland but here in Hawaii there memorial services held almost all day.
Posted by brassband
RE: Jason Robards
Actually, he was not in Pearl on Dec. 7; he was radioman on the heavy cruiser Northamtpon, which was a half-day out of Pearl, part of Admiral Halsey’s Enterprise group. They should have been in Pearl that morning, but were delayed due to a snafu at sea, which likely saved the Enterprise group, Halsey, Robards and many others to fight on.
My bad. I picked up that factoid on a Pearl Harbor special narrated by Jason Robards (about 15 years ago). When they played “this is no drill, this is no drill” Robards asked “Do you recognize that voice?”. That was me, I was a radio man at Pearl. Perhaps the recording comes from calling battle stations on the Northampton and not from Pearl.
For the record, the attack on Pearl Harbor started at 7:48 AM December 7, 1941.
A telegraph from Patrol Wing Two Headquarters located at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor warning of the attack on Pearl Harbor was sent at 7:55 AM; “Air Raid Pearl Harbor. This is Not A Drill.”* This warning was followed a few minutes later by a similar message from the commander in chief, United States Fleet informing the world Oahu, HI and Pearl Harbor was under attack.
As a radioman 3rd class in the Navy, Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. served aboard a heavy cruiser, the USS Northampton (CA-26) in 1941. On December 7, 1941, he was aboard the Northampton in the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles off Hawaii and contrary to some stories, he witnessed the devastation of the Japanese attack on Hawaii only afterwards, when the Northampton returned to Pearl Harbor two days later.
Gentlemen lets not try to rewrite history!