Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Photo Trivia

I took this photo onboard a famous naval vessel in Hawaii because it reminded me of an earlier quasi-famous photo of two key players in the Pacific war. Can you name the place and famous event?

I will link the original photo that inspired my photo later.


[ADDED] This is the photo matchup I was trying for:
The B/W photo was taken on board the USS Missouri the day Japan surrendered. Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr. (foreground right) died of a heart attack a couple days later.

12 comments:

  1. I can't answer that question. We never learned who won WW2 in high school, or even got to the Pacific theater.

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  2. It's interesting that the USS Missouri and the sister ships of her class served long into the nuclear era. There is something cool about a 16" (the weight of a Volkswagon) shell being hurled 25 miles inland. When I was in Lebanon and President Reagan had the USS New Jersey shelling terrorist camps, it got their attention. The cratering damage and the blast effect were something to be beheld.

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  3. I must of told you the story of when we visited that ship. There were tons of Japanese tourits there as well as Middle Americans. They had these 50 caliber machine guns like they had in McHales Navy at the side of the ship. I gave the wife the camera and said get ready to take a picture. Then I went to the machine gun and swung it to point at these Japanese tourists.

    It is hanging on my office wall. Good times.

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  4. @Troop: Admiral Halsey would have approved...back in the day.

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  5. It's interesting that the USS Missouri and the sister ships of her class served long into the nuclear era.

    Reagan ordered her back into service after an early retirement.

    There is something cool about a 16" (the weight of a Volkswagon) shell being hurled 25 miles inland.

    Here's a link to a photo of her big gun firing a small Volkswagen.

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  6. Wow. You have a blog! Today, for the first time, I followed your link from Althouse.

    As to the photo above, I spotted the Missouri right away. And, I know there's a bigger ship parked right beside it. Just in case the Japanese thought they'd pull a trick.

    Meanwhile, per General Douglas MacArthur's orders, NO ONE WAS ALLOWED TO WEAR A PISTOL on deck. He threatened Admiral Halsey, that if he wore his, he'd toss him overboard.

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  7. Hello Carol and welcome aboard! I haven't been updating a lot lately compared to before.

    You asked over on Althouse what the difference between opium, morphine and heroin were. Since I'm a chemist I'll tell you that they related like tree bark, salicylic acid, and aspirin are. i.e., the words, arranged in that order describe a more and more refined drug.

    Poppies yield raw opium; opium resin contains morphine, a discrete substance and chemically treated morphine gives heroin.

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  8. Did you have the hot dogs in the galley? I did and they were great. I was dying for a dog and they had the foot long coney island dogs with the big bun. Great stuff.

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  9. Thanks for sending me the photos from your vacation to post on my blog.

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  10. Thanks!

    And, yes, you make me feel "welcomed on board."

    Just from a scattering of stuff I remember from the success of the 1500's ... When Magellan changed the way East. And, trade went from Portugal's ports ... Eastward. To capture what had gone over the Old Silk Road route. Now by sea.

    And, while rum was sent eastward. You don't want a ship to travel back empty. So the "white powder" ... from poppies grown in Afghanistan. Were packed in bulk, on board the sailing ships.

    It's not just China that had an opium problem, either! Business is still business.

    And, as Mario Puzo, quoting Balzac, begins his GodFather tale with: "All great family fortunes begin with a crime."

    Yes, they do.

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  11. What's a "poop" deck? How did it get its name.

    Oh. And, to counter Trooper York, I have a relative who owns a house in Palos Verdes Estates. He says with sadness how the hard working Japanese farmers lost all the real estate you see ... when they were thrown off this land. And, were never compensated.

    Sure. Palos Verdes is thrust high up (by crashing tectonic plates) ... And, the excuse given was that they could signal the Japanese.

    On par with saying "And, Sarah Palin said she could see russia from her house."

    Outright theft.

    Thank goodness we no longer call people from Japan "Japs."

    Was the confrontation in the Pacific during WW2 terrifying? Yes. It was. But the people of Japan had no say! The whole control of that country belonged to a few.

    General Douglas MacArthur fixed that! He stayed in Tokyo five years. (Even though Truman kept promising him a parade down 5th Avenue. MacArthur stayed ... And, saved the country. Even giving them their first Constitution.)

    Too bad the scum still controls.

    And, the devastation from the nuclear holocaust, this time caused by mismanagement ... is a story that goes untold.

    Just the same, the Japanese are a fantastic and industrious people. Can't fool me.

    Samuri! Another name for the thugs the ruling families hired.

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  12. Here's a video of the loading and firing of the big 16" guns on the USS Wisconsin. Just look at all that gunpowder propellant! link.

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