Charleston Navy Yard
The 83rd anniversary of the surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor will be commemorated and remembered in many parts of our country this year, and rightfully so.
We as Americans, and especially those of us who live in or near Charleston, should teach our children and those who now live here of the importance of remembering.
It is far too easy to forget the thousands who served because of that event and overlook the response our former Navy Yard on the Cooper River made to that significant event in our history.
The Charleston Navy Yard employed about 9,000 people at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and continued hiring until it reached a maximum of approximately 26,000 by July 1943.
The base workers were comprised of men and women who worked together to build and repair ships of all descriptions. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the Navy Yard became the largest employer, public or private, that the state had known at that time.
Unknown to many of our current residents and students, the Navy Yard built ships, tug boats, destroyers, destroyer escorts, tenders, troop transports and landing craft. In 1944 alone, it witnessed 116 vessels splash into the waters of the Cooper River, all destined for action in WWII.
The attack at Pearl Harbor thrust the United States and Charleston into the ever-growing world war, where our men and women served all over the world on vessels built and repaired at the Navy Yard.
Let us remember and teach others of those men and women who stopped what they were doing and joined our armed services to become soldiers and workers in our entry into WWII.
Let us commemorate Pearl Harbor Day and thank each and every active duty service member, as well as our veterans for their service.
AL HITCHCOCK
Charleston
Charleston a special home
I live in one of the best countries in the world. Its buildings, inventions and mountains are magnificent, so are its gardens and deserts. These alone don't make it great. People do. People who ask: How are you? Then take time to listen.
While voting, I ran into a friend. We don't think the same way politically, but we laughed and assured each other that here in this place we are all friends. We both agreed; America was always great.
South Carolina is something special.
Huge live oaks are draped with silver Spanish moss. Insects called no-see-ums move in packs of thousands; you don't need to see them, you feel them.
Spiders that make antipodean arachnids quiver in fear. Surely a childhood among the most dangerous creatures in the real Deep South would prepare me? Even the food has grit.
I am Charleston-bound and my soul is at home with Gilded Age street lamps lighting the way.
I didn't think I had enough room in my heart for a fourth home, spoiled as I am with Sydney, Athens and New York.
But the heart has four chambers and plenty of space: for sunsets, stars and new southern friends and neighbors you feel you've met in a past life.
Maybe that corner of my heart has been waiting for Charleston to fill it up. As my plane begins its descent into the Lowcountry, a flight attendant asked: Are you home?
With a tear in my eye, I said, "Yes, ma'am. I am."
BETTINA YIANNAKOUROU
Charleston
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