American Legion Post 33 Woodruff, S.C.

Wednesday December 7th 6pm we will conduct a Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony in the hall. Bob Justice will be our speaker a 96 year old WW2 Veteran (Navy Seabee) please join us bring your kids if you wish as this is an opportunity for all to learn about the cost of freedom in our great country from someone who actually participated and lived through this period. December 7th 1941 America was attacked by J*pan at Pearl Harbor. This was an attack on our country bringing us into WW2. Had Americans not stepped up to serve in the military, here at home supporting the war effort and donating materials to make weapons and equipment to fight we might well be something other than Americans. I know this ceremony may not be a party that gets much attendance but our speaker is one of the few living people who fought this war to ensure you enjoy the freedom to even read this post. I don't know about anyone else but I will be there out of respect for this American hero and to have the opportunity to spend time with him while he's still with us.

Please come join us.

Today is Vietnam Veterans day Welcome Home Brothers and Sisters. Instead of seeing multiple posts on this today we seem to only get what happened in Hollywood or lots of other garbage. Maybe step back readjust and take time to thank and honor our Vietnam Veterans for all they endured, their sacrifices and remind them that we respect and honor them.

Our Scout Troop (Troop and Pack 21) who we Charter and support will be selling smoked pork butts whole, pulled or by
the pint. $40 for a whole Butt $10 for a pint at Country Meats (Woodruff on 221) in the parking lot tomorrow morning. They tend to sell out between 11 am and noon. If you would like to support them and get some really good pulled pork then spread the word
or go pick some up for yourself.

I am looking for a power lift chair for a lady having a really hard time with Breast cancer and treatment the family only has one income and no truck to pick one up there are several around the area on Facebook marketplace. Any ideas guys?

American Legion Post 33 Woodruff, S.C. updated their address.

So yesterday we had a ceremony for Pearl Harbor. I contacted a Guest Speaker Bob Justice a WW2 Navy Veteran. ( He wore his uniform from his time in service ) He drove down and reminded us that freedom is a precious thing that we must fight to preserve. The memory of the sacrifices of our service members. This must always be shared with the younger generations lest we forget the cost. He said when talking to immigrants that the one thing he always heard was they love America and are amazed that they can travel from state to state without going through security checkpoints. He reminded many that we should never take our freedoms for granted. Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by J*panese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of J*panese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on J*pan.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but J*pan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades.
The United States was particularly unhappy with J*pan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. The J*panese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market.
To this end, J*pan declared war on China in 1937, resulting in the Nanking Massacre and other atrocities.
American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, J*pan would have to rein in its expansionism.
Instead, the sanctions made the J*panese more determined to stand their ground. During months of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, D.C., neither side would budge. It seemed that war was all but inevitable.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from J*pan. No one believed that the J*panese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii.
Additionally, American intelligence officials were confident that any J*panese attack would take place in one of the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific: the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina.
Because American military leaders were not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields.
To the J*panese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistibly easy target.
The J*panese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as J*pan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the J*panese launched their attack.
At about 8 a.m., J*panese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored below. At 8:10, a 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside.
Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater.
Less than two hours later, the surprise attack was over, and every battleship in Pearl Harbor—USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada—had sustained significant damage. (All but USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired.)
In all, the J*panese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and about 1,000 people were wounded.
But the J*panese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and as it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were away from the base on December 7. (Some had returned to the mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands.)
Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base’s most vital onshore facilities—oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks—intact. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on December 8, the day after the crushing attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of J*pan.”
He went on to say, “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.”
After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war.
The J*panese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in J*pan’s first occupation by a foreign power.
On December 8, Congress approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war on J*pan. Three days later, J*pan’s allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States.
For the second time, Congress reciprocated, declaring war on the European powers. More than two years after the start of World War II, the United States had entered the conflict.
Missouri-born Samuel Fuqua had a front row seat to the devastation at Pearl Harbor from aboard USS Arizona, a battleship that was heavily bombed during the first wave of the attack. The 42-year-old lieutenant commander was having breakfast when the ship’s air raid sirens first sounded around 7:55 a.m. He immediately rushed to the quarterdeck, only to be strafed by enemy fire and then knocked out cold when a bomb fell just feet away from him. Though dazed, Fuqua jumped to his feet after regaining consciousness and began directing firefighting operations. Moments later, he became the Arizona’s senior surviving officer after another bomb detonated the ship’s ammunition magazine, killing more than 1,000 men. As burned and maimed sailors poured onto the deck, Fuqua ignored gunfire from passing aircraft and calmly led efforts to evacuate his sinking ship.
“I can still see him standing there,” Arizona crewman Edward Wentzlaff later remembered, “ankle deep in water, stub of a cigar in his mouth, cool and efficient, oblivious to the danger about him.”
Fuqua was among the last men to abandon ship. He and two fellow officers then commandeered a boat and braved heavy fire while picking up survivors from the fire-streaked waters. He went on to win the Medal of Honor for his actions at Pearl Harbor, and was later promoted to rear admiral upon his retirement from the Navy in 1953.
Around the same time Arizona was being bombed, the training and target ship USS Utah was rocked by two torpedo strikes from J*panese aircraft. The aging vessel soon began to list to one side as water flooded into its hull. Inside the boiler room, Chief Watertender Peter Tomich ordered his crew to abandon ship.
After ensuring that his men had escaped their engineering spaces, the Austro-Hungarian immigrant and World War I veteran returned to his post and singlehandedly secured the boilers, preventing a potential explosion that would have claimed many lives. USS Utah rolled over and sank just minutes later. Fifty-eight men—Tomich among them—went down with the ship. The 48-year-old was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his lifesaving actions, but in an unusual twist, the Navy was unable to locate any of his family members. His award went unclaimed for nearly 65 years until 2006, when it was finally presented to a relative during a ceremony in Split, Croatia.
Army Air Corps pilots George Welch and Kenneth Taylor spent the evening before the Pearl Harbor attack attending a formal dance and playing poker until the wee hours of the morning. They were still sleeping off their night of partying when they were awakened around 8 a.m. by the sound of exploding bombs and machine gun fire. Not wanting to miss out on a fight, the pair threw on their tuxedo pants and sped to Haleiwa airfield in Taylor’s Buick, dodging strafing J*panese planes along the way. Just minutes later, they became the first American pilots to get airborne after they took off in their P-40 fighters.
Welch and Taylor went on to wage a lonely battle against hundreds of enemy planes. They even landed at Wheeler airfield at one point and had their ammunition replenished before rejoining the fray. By the time the attack ended, the second lieutenants had shot down at least six fighters and bombers between them. Both were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their high flying exploits, and Taylor was given a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound he received when his P-40 was struck by machine gun fire.
Doris Miller’s skin color usually relegated him to the role of cook and laundry attendant aboard USS West Virginia, but when the ship was struck by multiple bombs and torpedoes on December 7, he became one of its most vital crewmembers. Miller had rushed to his battle station amidships as soon as the shooting started. Finding it destroyed, the amateur boxer sprinted to the quarterdeck and used his hulking frame to help move the injured. Miller was among the men who carried the ship’s mortally wounded skipper to safety, and he then helped pass ammunition to the crews of two .50 caliber machine guns.
Despite having no weapons training, he eventually manned one of the weapons himself and began blasting away at the J*panese fighters swarming around the ship. “It wasn’t hard,” he later remembered. “I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine…I think I got one of those J*p planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”
Miller continued to operate the gun for some 15 minutes until ordered to abandon ship. His actions earned him the Navy Cross—the first ever presented to an African American—and he was widely hailed as a war hero in the black press. He later toured the country promoting war bonds before being reassigned to the es**rt carrier Liscome Bay. Sadly, Miller was among the 646 crewmen killed when the ship was later torpedoed and sunk in 1943.
Chief Petty Officer John Finn was still lying in bed with his wife when J*panese fighter planes descended on his post at the Kaneohe Bay air station some 15 miles from Pearl Harbor. After throwing on clothes and driving to the base, he commandeered a .30 caliber machine gun and dragged it to an open area with a clear view of the sky. For the next two-and-a-half hours, Finn kept up a near-constant rate of fire against the strafing hordes of Zeroes, and may have been responsible for destroying at least one plane.
“I can’t honestly say I hit any,” he remembered in 2001. “But I shot at every damn plane I could see.” Finn suffered more than 20 wounds from bullets and shrapnel during the battle. One shot left him with a broken foot; another completely incapacitated his left arm. He received medical aid after the attack ended, but returned to duty that same day to assist in arming American planes. Finn’s machine gun heroics won him the Medal of Honor—the only one awarded specifically for a combat action during Pearl Harbor. He would go on to survive the war and live to the age of 100.
One of the many civilians to win plaudits during the Pearl Harbor attack, George Walters was a dockyard worker who manned a massive rolling crane positioned alongside the dry-docked battleship USS Pennsylvania. When the yard came under fire during the early stages of the raid, he valiantly moved his crane back and forth on its track, effectively shielding Pennsylvania from low flying dive-bombers and fighters. Walters even tried to use the crane’s boom to swat the enemy planes out of the sky.
The gunners on Pennsylvania initially considered the dockworker a nuisance, but they soon realized that his 50-foot-high cab gave him an excellent view of incoming aircraft. Using the movements of the crane arm as a guide, they were able to return fire against the enemy to devastating effect. Walters continued his suicidal maneuvers until a J*panese bomb exploded on the dock and sent him to the hospital with a concussion. His actions may have helped save Pennsylvania from destruction, but his story went largely untold until 1957, when it appeared in author Walter Lord’s famous book Day of Infamy.
USS Nevada was the only ship from Pearl Harbor’s Battleship Row to make a break for the open ocean, but its great escape might never have happened if not for the efforts of 47-year-old Chief Boatswain Edwin Hill. Shortly after the battle began, Hill and a small crew braved heavy fire and strafing to go ashore and cut the moorings holding the Nevada to the quay at Ford Island. He then dove into the oil-stained water and swam back to his ship to continue the fight. As Hill directed an ammunition train, Nevada ran a gauntlet of enemy fire and tried to steam out of the harbor. The lone battleship was an obvious target, however, and after taking repeated hits from J*panese dive-bombers, its captain opted to beach his vessel to avoid bottling up the rest of the fleet.
Chief Hill was soon called into action a final time. He was on the forecastle working to drop anchor when a group J*panese planes rained bombs on the deck, blowing his body off the ship and killing him instantly. Hill was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. USS Nevada, meanwhile, survived Pearl Harbor and went on to participate in the Normandy invasion in 1944.
Phil Rasmussen was one of the handful of American pilots who managed to take to the skies during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like many others, the 23-year-old second lieutenant was still sleeping when his post at Wheeler Field was bombed, but he rushed outside and found an undamaged P-36 fighter sitting on the runway. Still clad in a pair of purple pajamas, Rasmussen took off and joined three other pilots in a dogfight against 11 J*panese aircraft. His plane was slower and less maneuverable than the enemy Zeroes, but he quickly managed to shoot one of them down. He then crippled another plane before two J*panese pilots raked his P-36 with machine gun and cannon fire, leaving behind some 500 bullet holes. Another Zero just narrowly missed when it tried to ram him. Rasmussen’s canopy was blown off and he briefly lost control, but he managed to right his damaged plane and make a miraculous landing without brakes, rudders or a tail wheel. The young pilot was awarded a Silver Star for his bravery, and went on to serve in the Air Force for another 24 years before retiring as a colonel.
Why Did J*pan Attack Pearl Harbor?
By the time the first J*panese bomber appeared over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, tensions between J*pan and the United States had been mounting for the better part of a decade, making war seem inevitable.
When J*panese bombers appeared in the skies over Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, the U.S. military was completely unprepared for the devastating surprise attack, which dramatically altered the course of World War II, especially in the Pacific theater. But there were several key reasons for the bombing that, in hindsight, make it seem almost inevitable.
Before the Pearl Harbor attack, tensions between J*pan and the United States had been mounting for the better part of a decade.
The island nation of J*pan, isolated from the rest of the world for much of its history, embarked on a period of aggressive expansion near the turn of the 20th century. Two successful wars, against China in 1894-95 and the Russo-J*panese War in 1904-05, fueled these ambitions, as did J*pan’s successful participation in World War I (1914-18) alongside the Allies.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, J*pan sought to solve its economic and demographic woes by forcing its way into China, starting in 1931 with an invasion of Manchuria. When a commission appointed by the League of Nations condemned the invasion, J*pan withdrew from the international organization; it would occupy Manchuria until 1945.
In July 1937, a clash at Beijing’s Marco Polo Bridge began another Sino-J*panese war. That December, after J*panese forces captured Nanjing (Nanking), the capital of the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Guomindang (Kuomintang), they proceeded to carry out six weeks of mass killings and rapes now infamous as the Nanjing Massacre.
In light of such atrocities, the United States began passing economic sanctions against J*pan, including trade embargoes on aircraft exports, oil and scrap metal, among other key goods, and gave economic support to Guomindang forces. In September 1940, J*pan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, the two fascist regimes then at war with the Allies.
Tokyo and Washington negotiated for months leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, without success. While the United States hoped embargoes on oil and other key goods would lead J*pan to halt its expansionism, the sanctions and other penalties actually convinced J*pan to stand its ground, and stirred up the anger of its people against continued Western interference in Asian affairs.
To J*pan, war with the United States had become to seem inevitable, in order to defend its status as a major world power. Because the odds were stacked against them, their only chance was the element of surprise.
In May 1940, the United States had made Pearl Harbor the main base for its Pacific Fleet. As Americans didn’t expect the J*panese to attack first in Hawaii, some 4,000 miles away from the J*panese mainland, the base at Pearl Harbor was left relatively undefended, making it an easy target.
Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku spent months planning an attack that aimed to destroy the Pacific Fleet and destroy morale in the U.S. Navy, so that it would not be able to fight back as J*panese forces began to advance on targets across the South Pacific.
J*pan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor would drive the United States out of isolation and into World War II, a conflict that would end with J*pan’s surrender after the devastating nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
At first, however, the Pearl Harbor attack looked like a success for J*pan. Its bombers hit all eight U.S. battleships, sinking four and damaging four others, destroyed or damaged more than 300 aircraft and killed some 2,400 Americans at Pearl Harbor.
J*panese forces went on to capture a string of current and former Western colonial possessions by early 1942—including Burma (now Myanmar), British Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore), the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and the Philippines—giving them access to these islands’ plentiful natural resources, including oil and rubber.
But the Pearl Harbor attack had failed in its objective to completely destroy the Pacific Fleet. The J*panese bombers missed oil tanks, ammunition sites and repair facilities, and not a single U.S. aircraft carrier was present during the attack. In June 1942, this failure came to haunt the J*panese, as U.S. forces scored a major victory in the Battle of Midway, decisively turning the tide of war in the Pacific.

This is the Softball team we sponsor if you look across the bottom of their banner it says Powered by American Legion Post 33. Their tournament results from last Saturday are 1st game of the day was a win 4-3

2nd game was a win 11-3

Entered bracket play as #1 seed
Semi final bracket game score was a win 10-4

Championship game was a good 1!! They went down 5-0 to a great team and battled back had the tying run on 3rd but came up short and came runner up with a 5-4 score

We have set up an Angel Tree at the Post for Cayla Burnett and her 5 children. Her husband Justin died suddenly a little more than a week ago. We're raising money, accepting all help and have some Christmas wishes on the tree for the children. If you would like to help out just let us know. John Funke 1st Vice Commander is heading up this effort. Pray for this family in this most difficult time.

Just a reminder.

We sponsor a girls 12 and under Youth Softball team The Woodruff Wolverines. Pictured below are the team and the schedule for Saturdays' games. They will be playing Saturday the 4th. At the fields over at 690 west Georgia. If anyone wants to come out and see them play. Post 33 American Legion members get in free if they show their membership card.

On December 7th we will have a Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony. As of now there will be a flag lowering and gathering for a short speech and prayer. We would like to make this an opportunity to educate anyone from the community who wants to attend in an effort to make sure this day and the sacrifices of our service members are never forgotten. We will update you soon on a time and any additions to this event. On August 23, 1994, December 7th was designated by the United States Congress as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. In honor and remembrance of those who were killed and wounded at Pearl Harbor, Americans should fly Outdoor American Flags and subordinate flags at half-staff from sunrise to sundown.

On November 11th we served St. Louis style ribs Hash and much more to our Veterans in appreciation for their service.

On 9/11 we held a ceremony to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

American Legion Post 33 Woodruff, S.C. updated their phone number.

We welcome all Veterans to come visit and join us. We're here to help our Brothers and Sisters. Get involved with our community and support our First Responders.

American Legion Post 33 Woodruff, S.C. updated their business hours.