[Milsurplus] Remebering Pearl Harbor

[CL in NC]

Amazing that there is nothing online news, as on Yahoo about this date.  Google usually dresses up it's logo on special days, guess 12/7 is not one of them, perhaps they don't want to offend the Japanese.  My father's first tour with the Navy was 1926-32, the second 1/42 to 10/45, the second time around entirely in the Pacific Theater.   While we all know the events of the day, one thing you have to dig for is some things most don't consider.  Sailors, Army, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, all firing weapons in the air, .30 cal to 5 inchers.  Where did it all go?  Alot landed in civilian areas, blowing up buildings and taking out folks.  Ships raked other ships, pure chaos in the fight that has the enemy right in amongst you.  I posted a query one time on a gun related site on their European menu about aerial combat in WW II.  If you go on Youtube today, and look up  gun camera footage, you may note that many times, what is beyond the intended target are towns and villages.  I asked if anybody had relatives killed by rounds in such conditions.  I got several replies, no one they knew were killed, one remembers a round going through his kitchen window, but they all said the biggest danger was the spent shell casings.  You got inside or under cover for the rain of brass that might come down on your head.  Take a look at some of the video showing under the wing of a P51 when all six .50 cals are going, constant flow of brass, and it had to go somewhere.

Charlie, W4MEC in NC