The Morning The Music Died
December 7, 2019 8:09 PM   Subscribe

The Fate of the USS Arizona Band – “On December 7th, 1941, on the coast of Oahu, those stationed at the naval installation of Pearl Harbor were unaware that they would soon become a part of history. Just before 8 AM, their lives were changed forever and many of them became forever engraved in America’s history. Among the 1,177 sailors who perished aboard the USS Arizona during Japan’s attack were a group of 21 notable heroes who were there for one reason – at 8 o’clock that morning, they were scheduled to ring in the morning with the national anthem.” (Photo gallery of Pacific Fleet Band #22 members at USSArizona.org.)
posted by cenoxo (7 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I pointed out the fate of the Arizona band to my sister-in-law when my nephew joined the Navy as a bandsman. She was not appreciative.
posted by etaoin at 8:56 PM on December 7, 2019 [4 favorites]


Well, that explains why Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse was in Hawaii in Cryptonomicon., and where he, specifically, was, geographically speaking.
posted by drivingmenuts at 9:28 PM on December 7, 2019 [6 favorites]


Where I am at, we always have with military bands in parades. As much as a love high school marching bands, the miltary guys/gals are much more impressive.

Thanks for this article, I had always thought of it as a plum assignment, not with the same risks as any other miltary position
posted by CostcoCultist at 6:28 AM on December 8, 2019


Well, that explains why Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse was in Hawaii in Cryptonomicon., and where he, specifically, was, geographically speaking.

That's what I immediately thought of too. But I thought that was explained?
posted by hoyland at 6:57 AM on December 8, 2019


there's a probably not very good John Wayne WW2 movie that I saw a long time ago called In Harm's Way, the title of which always comes to mind when I hear stories like this. Because that's what war is. It's like a weather system manufactured by humans, and what it brings is harm. If you happen to be in its way, that's just shit luck. If you happen to be in uniform, you're just that much more likely to be in the way.

My dad served in Europe in WW2, front line for about a year. The worst story he had to tell concerned a Polish contingent that got bombed by their own side (the Allies). A relentless bombardment that would've been a perfect assault if the bombers had gotten their target right. As my dad described it, it was winter time, a lull. Nobody was expecting any kind of action, just hunkered down trying to keep warm. The Poles were camped one hill over from where he was, so the miscalculation could just as easily have taken him out. As it was, he had the pleasure of taking part in the clean-up. There was no rescue required. Nobody survived.
posted by philip-random at 9:07 AM on December 8, 2019 [3 favorites]


Because that's what war is. It's like a weather system manufactured by humans, and what it brings is harm.

World War II was a man-made, global catastrophe with perhaps twice as many civilian deaths as combatants. It’s been nearly 75 years since it ended, and as its last participants pass away we need to remember how tragic it was.
posted by cenoxo at 1:46 PM on December 8, 2019 [4 favorites]


@hoyland: I don’t recall that the book ever explained why he was where he was, other than the Navy had no need of him elsewhere and that he was specifically on the Arizona.

The first detail sounds irrelevant to the story, although it would be totally Stephenson to explain it in some Catch-22 fashion. The lack of the second detail seems like either oversight or perhaps the author was unaware of the full details, though that seems a bit of a stretch, given his usual encyclopedic knowledge of other facts.
posted by drivingmenuts at 5:46 PM on December 8, 2019


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