My Uncle Seaman Second Class Harry Smith, who entered the U.S. Navy from California, was aboard the Arizona on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack and was among the men lost with the ship. His remains were not recovered. Today, Seaman Second Class Smith is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the …
My Uncle Seaman Second Class Harry Smith, who entered the U.S. Navy from California, was aboard the Arizona on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack and was among the men lost with the ship. His remains were not recovered. Today, Seaman Second Class Smith is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
I have been to the memorial and it is very moving!!!! I am happy this man was a survivor who could tell the story!
That memorial is something else. When I went in 2008, I was privileged to note the unveiling of a sailor's name who had been interred with his shipmates.
I rendered honors to the USS Arizona, as is traditional for all Navy ships entering port. So I saluted your uncle in addition to all the other ship's company lost.
This happened before I was born but my father had the plaque in his study and I was very aware of this loss and how it impacted his family. I became aware early that people die in war and it’s a family sacrifice. I have mentioned before my father was an attorney and Jewish and he put interred Japanese families property in trust and successfully restored it to them after the war.
Hi Judith, you are fortunate to have had a father not only wise but compassionate. My father was far less educated than yours, but was also a kind and compassionate man. Its too bad more men weren't like them - and women too.
I have always believed I won the parent lottery. I knew very young I was ‘different.” I was raised as a Presbyterian but my closest friends were Jewish. There were guys who couldn’t take me home. My parents were open to everyone! I never knew who would be at the kitchen table offered a meal or a few dollars. It’s a liberating way to grow up! I have tried my best to set a course for my now grown sons, and I have succeeded!
I was and like everyone there have been deep valleys. I just have kept going. That’s what we do. I am tenacious by nature and I look for ways to get through a door, if not then around it, over it or under it! Do not succumb to negativity or defeatism. My parents were lifelong Republicans and my mother made it to 103 in 2017! She did not vote for Trump but she could not bring herself to vote Democrat so she wrote in Ben Carson!
My Uncle Seaman Second Class Harry Smith, who entered the U.S. Navy from California, was aboard the Arizona on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack and was among the men lost with the ship. His remains were not recovered. Today, Seaman Second Class Smith is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
I have been to the memorial and it is very moving!!!! I am happy this man was a survivor who could tell the story!
That memorial is something else. When I went in 2008, I was privileged to note the unveiling of a sailor's name who had been interred with his shipmates.
I rendered honors to the USS Arizona, as is traditional for all Navy ships entering port. So I saluted your uncle in addition to all the other ship's company lost.
I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle, Judith.
Even for those of us who lost no one we knew, it is a very moving experience, Judith
This happened before I was born but my father had the plaque in his study and I was very aware of this loss and how it impacted his family. I became aware early that people die in war and it’s a family sacrifice. I have mentioned before my father was an attorney and Jewish and he put interred Japanese families property in trust and successfully restored it to them after the war.
Hi Judith, you are fortunate to have had a father not only wise but compassionate. My father was far less educated than yours, but was also a kind and compassionate man. Its too bad more men weren't like them - and women too.
I have always believed I won the parent lottery. I knew very young I was ‘different.” I was raised as a Presbyterian but my closest friends were Jewish. There were guys who couldn’t take me home. My parents were open to everyone! I never knew who would be at the kitchen table offered a meal or a few dollars. It’s a liberating way to grow up! I have tried my best to set a course for my now grown sons, and I have succeeded!
Sounds like you were fortunate and made the best of your life.
I was and like everyone there have been deep valleys. I just have kept going. That’s what we do. I am tenacious by nature and I look for ways to get through a door, if not then around it, over it or under it! Do not succumb to negativity or defeatism. My parents were lifelong Republicans and my mother made it to 103 in 2017! She did not vote for Trump but she could not bring herself to vote Democrat so she wrote in Ben Carson!