Pearl Harbor in My Other Blogs This Past Monday, 79th Anniversary-- Part 2: Why Must We Remember Pearl Harbor

Continuing with my other four blogs.  Go to the My Blogs section to the right of this, click on the blog and scroll down to December 7 entry.

CIVIL WAR II:  THE CONTINUING WAR ON THE CONFEDRACY:  Mickey Granitch of the USS Pennsylvania getting ready for a football game with the USS Arizona's team.  Fought the battle in his uniform.

SAW THE ELEPHANT:  THE CIVIL WAR:  Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors carry on after the original Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbands because of age and loss of members.

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE: CIVIL WAR NAVY:  Wayne Rader of the U.S. Army at Schofield Barracks.

ROADDOG'S ROADLOG BLOG:  Why we must remember Pearl Harbor (and why it isn't remembered).

--GreGen

1942: George Halas Goes Off to War and the Bears Go On Defense and Winning Streak-- Part 1

From the November 16, 2019, Chicago Sun-Times.

I have been writing about the Chicago Bears in my Cooter's History Thing blog earlier this month.

When founder and coach George Halas left the undefeated Chicago Bears to serve in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant commander in the middle of the 1942 season, the Bears responded with one of the great defensive runs of all time in the NFL.

They shut out the winless Detroit Lions 16-0 in their first game without Halas, then beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 42-0 in Brooklyn the next week.

They nearly had a third consecutive shutout when they were leading the rival Packers 38-0 late in the fourth quarter at Wrigley Field -- until Cecil Isbell threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Don Hutson late in the final quarter.

But the Bears kept on going.  They beat the Lions 42-0 (with 12 takeaways), the Rams 47-0 and they did not allow a offensive touchdown in a 21-7 victory against the rival Cardinals to complete an 11-0 season.  The Cardinals scored off a fumkble on an aborted Bears punt in the waning moments.

--GreGen

N.C,'s Liberty Armada-- Part 12: Pearl Harbor Was the Next Day

The dignitaries at the SS Zebulon B. Vance's launching retired to a luncheon at the Cape Fear Country Club.  Workers like Elverton Shands headed for home.

Scarcely 24 hours later, Shands was listening to the radio.  "It was the Washington Redskins nd the Bears game," he recalls.  A newscaster interrupts the game to report the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.  "Well, I knew my father was in the Navy.  ...And I came downstairs and I said, 'Daddy, where's Pearl Harbor?'"

His father told him.

And the war was on, and the Liberty Ships were on their way.

--GreGen

Oakland Raiders Honor 98-Year-Old Pearl Harbor Survivor

From the November 27, 2017, Independent Journal Review  "Oakland Raiders Honor 98-Year-Old Pearl Harbor Survivor In Pregame Ceremony"  William Vaillancourt.

In the game against the Denver Broncos, Mickey Ganitch, a huge Raiders fan (wonder what he thinks about their move to Las Vegas) was honored for his service.  While in the Navy, he played football for his ship, the USS Pennsylvania, and was set to play the team from the USS Arizona that day.  Needless to say, that game never came to pass.

He was 22 at the time and had been in the Navy for ten months.

The Pennsylvania was in drydock with two destroyers at the time of the attack.  He didn't see the bomb blast, but felt it as the crow's nest shuddered.  It wiped out an entire gun crew.  The second bomb hit one of the destroyers, causing an oil slick which ignited.

The Japanese planes flew by very close to the ground.

Mickey Ganitch went on to serve in the Navy for 23 years.

It Is Always Good To Write About These Survivors While They Are Still Alive.  --GreGen

Arizona Football Team Honors USS Arizona With Uniforms-- Part 2

One shoulder will have the patch of the 47th Pursuit Squadron which was stationed at Pearl Harbor.  On the other there will be a 48-star flag (Arizona was the 48th state admitted to the Union and, of course, it was the 48-star flag that flew in Pearl Harbor that day.

The University of Arizona's football team helmets will feature a red block "A" that is based on a photo of the USS Arizona's football team.  Also, there will be a 12-7-41 date where the helmet and face guard meet.  there is also a helmet logo of the Arizona's ship's bell.

All jerseys will say USS Arizona on the front and BB-39 on the back where the names would be.

A Fitting Honor.  --GreGen

University of Arizona Football Team Wears Jerseys Honoring the USS Arixzona-- Part 1

From the September 14, 2016, Arizona Sports "Arizona football releases uniform honoring USS Arizona vs. Hawaii."

The uniforms honor the upcoming 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and will remember the sinking of the state's namesake.  The helmets and shoulder patches will especially reflect the USS Arizona.

The white-shaded helmets are the colors of the USS Arizona's upper mast.  The white jerseys are the colors of the hull and red pants are the color of the keel.

--GreGen

NIU's Albert Riippi-- Part 2: A Game and the Navy

That year NITC (NIU) was undefeated going into the last game versus Southern Illinois.  Before the game, Chick Evans and college president Karl Adams told Riippi that he had been ordered to report to duty the next morning in Chicago.  The game was being played in Carbondale.

The Huskies won 13-12.  Mr. Riipi missed the celebration party the next day in DeKalb.

He was named All-Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference First Team (he played both offense and defense).

After training, he served on the USS Columbia, the "Gem of the Ocean.  He joined the ship while it was in Long Beach, California, where it had gone for repairs after being struck by a kamikaze.  The ship participated in the Borneo invasion and he returned to DeKalb in time for his mother's funeral.

An Interesting Life.  --GreGen

NIU's Albert Riippi, Football and the War--Part 1

From the November 9, 2013, DeKalb (Ill.) Chronicle "Olson: Honoring captain's career in football, firefighting."

Albert Riippi, 87, will be the honorary football team captain in the Northern Illinois Huskies vs. Ball State University game and near the end of the 2nd quarter will present a new pickup truck to a veteran wounded in Afghanistan on behalf of the DeKalb Firefighters Union.

Mr. Riippi is a lifelong DeKalb resident.

He graduated from DeKalb High School at age 17 in the spring of 1944 and enlisted in the Navy.  Two older brothers were already serving in the military.

He stood 6 foot and weighed 220 pounds, a big Finnish kid who had played offensive tackle for the DeKalb Barbs.

At Northern Illinois Teachers College (as NIU was called back then), football coach Chick Evans needed players with so many young men at war.  His squad was mostly made up of men who were 4-F or had already served.  He asked Riippi to play.  Riippi said to him, "I'm in the Navy.  I'm just waiting to be called."  But he agreed to play until then.

Just Waiting for the Call.  --GreGen

Duke University During World War II-- Part 2

In 1943, Duke added the Navy's V-12 program, an accelerated training regimen to speed qualified military personnel and high school students into active service as officers. Many were needed to lead the explanded numbers of military members and those killed and wounded.

In the 1941-1942 basketball season, Coach Eddie Cameron's last Blue Devil squad went 22-2, his best record in his 14-year tenure. On March 7, 1942, they repeated as Southern Conference champs.

Football coach Wade resigned in March 1942 and returned to military service (he had been a captain in World War I) and volunteered for the field artillery. (A later Duke legend, Mike Krzyzewski, also was in the field artillery and rose to the rank of captain.)

Cameron, the football backfield coach, took Wade's place as athletic director and "acting head football coach." Cameron's position as head basketball coach was taken over by Gerry Gerald.

In football, the 1942 Duke team lost 21 players from the Rose Bowl unit, but Cameron opened the offense and had four straight winning seasons.

Go Field Artillery. --GreGen

When the Rose Bowl Was Played in Durham, NC-- Part 1

From the Jan. 1, 2012, Go Duke Magazine "When the Rose Bowl Called Durham Home" by Barry Jacobs.

Duke had accepted its Rose Bowl bid for the second time in four years when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

At the time, Duke University in Durham, NC, was "an insular, regional university" that had been reshuffling coaches in football and basketball to be played in the recently built "new gymnasium" as the 1942 student yearbook referred to it.

Because of fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast, the Rose Bowl was uprooted for the first time ever. Cities all over the United States offered to host it, but it ended up being played in Durham, NC. (I never knew the Rose Bowl was played there.)

There had been an appeal to proceed with the Jan. 1st game because, "the appearance of normalcy touted as good for the national morale."

More to Come. --GreGen