Manning The Rails: Never Forget The December 7th Sneak Attack On Pearl Harbor

In November of 1970 I was one of many young sailors who “manned the rails” on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk as we passed the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. (See the above photo). 

We manned the rails in dress white uniforms on the edge of the ship as a salute to honor the sunken battleship USS Arizona and the sailors and Marines who died during the Imperial Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, “A date,” noted then-President Franklin Roosevelt, “which will live in infamy.” 

The Kitty Hawk made a port of call at Pearl Harbor just prior to our heading to Subic Bay in the Philippines and then onto “Yankee Station” in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam during the final years of the Vietnam War. 

Like many old surviving sailors today, I again salute the servicemen who died on December 7, 1941, and I’d like to remind younger readers to never forget the Pearl Harbor attack which drew America into World War II. 

On This Day In History The Imperial Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor

As History.com notes, on this day in 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link: 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pearl-harbor-bombed 

Note: It was on December 7, 1976, that my late father, Edward M. Davis, died. 

He was a proud veteran who enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and fought in the Pacific as a Navy chief and UDT frogman. (He is seen in the center of his UDT 5 team in the above photo). 

Influenced greatly by my father, I too joined the Navy when I was 17 and served on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War. 

Above is a photo of my old ship, circa 1970, as she passes the USS Arizona Memorial at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii.

Manning The Rails At Pearl Harbor

Sailors and Marines man the rails aboard Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) while passing the USS Arizona Memorial. 

Essex is the flagship of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and, with the embarked 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU), is currently operating in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of responsibility. 

Note: The above U..S. Navy Photo was taken by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean P. Gallagher.