I could not let this date pass, I believe the statement "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" . There are few left alive that remember witnessing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor first hand. Even those who where children, are old now, and their memories are beginning to fade. Of the 60,000 members of the armed forces stationed at Pearl Harbor that day only about 2,700 are still with us today. It is important that we learn this history, pass it to our children, before the historical revisionists have their way with the facts, and this date becomes only a footnote in time.
Imagine for a moment, Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941 you are at your home, anyplace USA. You have had your family dinner, which is customary at your house. Talk centered around the approaching Christmas holiday, the children excited about choosing the perfect tree for the living room. Mom and dad, Mr and Mrs Middle America with coffee cups in hand and their children Bob and Sue adjourn to the living room and turn on the large Motorola radio so that the tubes will warm up. The song playing on CBS is "Chattanooga Choo Choo", by Glenn Miller, it is the number one song in the country that day, then the regularly scheduled broadcast is interrupted by the news at roughly 230pm. It is the first time the American mainland is informed that there has been an air attack by the Japanese lead by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo on the small Hawaiian islands at a far away US Naval base called Pearl Harbor. It is not until the next day when President Roosevelt addresses congress and the American people giving his "December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy" speech, do many citizens realize that this one act has dragged America into World War II.
The attack began shortly before 8 a.m. and continued until just before 10 a.m. Prior to the first bomb dropping the United States had seen the signs that this attack was coming, even in the early morning of that dreadful day the powers that be had been alerted to a submarine approaching Pearl Harbor, possibly 2. Radar on Oahu had seen the fleet of Japanese planes, many retrofitted with the mechanisms to release torpedoes approaching, but the report was passed off as a fleet of American planes approaching, because those where expected to arrive. The result for the United States after the smoke cleared, flames died, and cries of agony subsided would be 2,388 dead, 1,178 wounded, 21 US ships sunk or damaged, 323 aircraft destroyed or damaged. Not all of the dead where members of the armed services, some where civilians. I have found the mention of the deaths of 3 women, and 9 children ranging in age from 3 months to 12 years old.
There had been 23 years of peace between WWI and American's entrance into WWII. By the end of the 6 years we where in the war 16 million men and women would belong to the Armed Services or 12 % of the population of the United States and 292,000 would die. There would be wars after this, but we would not be attacked again on our own soil until 9/11. Please take a moment today to remember those brave souls, our greatest generation, which where lost and many who still rest beneath the waters of Pearl Harbor.
Of the 90 ships anchored in Pearl Harbor, 7 in what was known as Battle Ship Row where sunk or damaged. We shall not forget. USS West Virginia, USS Oklahoma, USS Arizona, USS California, USS Maryland, USS Tennessee, and USS Nevada
Until next time..ME
No comments:
Post a Comment