Pearl Harbor Attack And Fdr's Stamp Collecting

During one of the many TV shows relating the story of the Pearl Harbor attack this last weekend, it was stated that FDR was interrupted while working on his stamp collection to be notified of the Japanese attack. While this sounds plausible, I still wonder if this is, in fact, true or just another urban myth. Has anyone out there found any primary source information to substantiate this?

This story makes that claim as well.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/artic...te-of-infamy

Our Australian Men were hard at defending the way of life we enjoy still to this day while the forces of the US were in slumber.

Pearl Harbour put US troops into the Seas above Australia. That and the Australian troops,the many reefs and islands stopped the nips from taking Australia. The nips bombed Darwin, to our every north and launched a navel attack that took place in Sydney Harbour.

One of Australia most full on battles that took place very near Australia was along the Kokoda Trail.

A man from the WWII sold us apart of his land for us to build our dream home on 25 years ago. He lived a simple life with many children. He pasted over a couple of years ago now. He was the most trained of all the Fighter Pilots in the Australian Air Force at that time. For many years he Headed Fighter Pilot squadron's after squadron's and would position himself in the worst position for survival during their missions and too many time he said he was the only Pilot to make it back.

He was not a Religious man by any means but he was a quiet believer he would say when pushed. In tears he would say that a bright Angelic figure would appear and protect and move his plane out of danger and then he would say why me and not my men. It was 60 odd years later but it was still like yesterday to him.

To All The Diggers. In All The Engagement. Thank You.

Wow, "nips"? Really? In 2013?

Yep! The 91 year old man at the end of the street that was in WWII for the last 61/2 years tells me he fights the nips every night as horror and it is 2013!

He has my respect you............

Hi!
To address the original subject, what is the "big deal" about FDR working on his stamps when he was told about Pearl Harbor? He could otherwise have been eating a meal, smoking, having a drink, or chatting with friends, etc., etc. This (to me) is not the stuff of myths.
As others brought it up, let me briefly talk WWII.......
My Father was a tank commander and was in the middle of it in the Philippines, and later on occupied Japan for several months. Dad carried no hatred with him after, but suffered the war most nights.
My Father in Law was at Pearl Harbor (USS Argonne)during the attack. He was at the dock by his ship, and had a birds eye view of the attacks. He spent several days after fishing out bodies from the wreckage. He had another ship sunk from beneath him off the Philippines, and subsequently was sent to the Philadelphia navy yards.

It's a lot more common in Australia than it is in the US where political correctness seems to have taken over. I remember hearing it a lot in the 60s in the US. I never really understood why nicknames for people groups are considered derogatory...I never thought anybody was being derogatory when they called us "Yanks".

Nicknames are common everywhere, Commies, Yanks, Yankee, Rebs, Brits, Frogs, etc. the list can go on for many more. Some can be offensive, more are not. I was raised a Yankee but have chosen to live in the south as a Reb for around 50 years and I'm still called a Yankee. Go figure. In the south I have an accent, as do I in the North. If the nickname is offensive to you then I suggest you have other and bigger problems.

Art

Do you know what Southerners call Yankees who move to the south?

Damn Yankees.

Cheers, Robert

I don't find Yank/Yankee offensive either, but the difference is most Japanese people DO find nip offensive. I also understand that often when someone uses a word like nip, they don't intend to be derogatory. Usually they have just never been educated to the fact that the group they are referring to does find it derogatory. It is also likely that it is more offensive in the US, to Japanese Americans, than in other western countries, due to the treatment and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, when the word nip WAS used in a derogatory way.

My Dad who is 87 was on the ship that picked up survivors of the Iwo Jima battle. Never talks about his experiences very much.
Tom

This year there has been great historic movement in correcting the truth about what the Japanese did to Ozzies in the WWII by the Japanese, to the whole Japanese people.

The Japanese invited Ozzie POW's back to Japan so the Japanese people could say sorry to them.

Some of the truth that the Japanese people have had to cope with is pure horror and there is a lot of it and I will revel only one issue. The Japanese are very full on about getting everything they did out in the open. This has only started in very recent years.

Bamboo would be cut at a very sharp angle and then an Ozzie soldier would be tied out flat over the growing cut bamboo so that in a week or so the bamboo would grow through the solider.

Nips is a problem! How has the USA not been charged for war crimes over Big Boy & Fat Boy?

Australia after the end of WWII took Japanese soldiers as POW's but the Ozzies did not do to them what was done to there mates.

Let me offer the opinion that it is well past the time that this discussion should have been returned to one related to something remotely philatelic.





The above quote was taken from an article (see below link) published by the U.S. Government's National Archives and Records Administration.

While the conspiracy theorists among you may say the information presented is a fabrication, I've got to assume it was written based upon information contained in the archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publication...-speech.html

If the press really played the stamp collecting angle, then it could just be a 'hook'. He was a big collector, so it's not hard to believe. I guess it depends on how many other times he was working on his collection when this or that happened.

I spent some time in North Dakota as a kid, and people there called the Native Americans "yips". There was definite animosity and it was meant as an insult. Now that I'm older and wiser I try not to use labels that might offend a group of people. I think tradition is great, but it shouldn't be used to isolate others imo. What it comes down to is the intent of the person using the word.

The amount of issues that surrounded Pearl Harbour are huge and many.

To release a stamp issue about Pearl Harbour is going to bring up many very serious situation that were going on at that time.

For me this stamp issue is a big success. It has generated much discussion. With the big question about FDR stamp collecting habits.