Pearl Harbor Day, Plus 75

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. This will not be a typical looking back seventy-five years to the sneak attack upon the US, which ultimately brought us into World War II, but a look forward. Most of my generation remember Pearl Harbor from the stories we heard from those who were there. The previous generation lived it. The next generation? Who knows?

Many of us have seen, with nervous laughter,  Jay Leno's Man on the Street, or Watter's World, where young adults and college students are asked very simple questions about historical events that most of my generation learned in grade school. Those interviewed appear clueless, sometimes not able to locate the founding of our country or the Civil War within a century of when they actually happened.

"Remember the Alamo!"

"Remember the Maine!"

"Remember Pearl Harbor!"

Each of those sayings stirred the soul of a generation at one time or another. Some fade more quickly than others. The veterans who served at Pearl the day of the attack are fewer in number every year. Soon, the last of them will be gone. Who will remember Pearl Harbor? Even our own president famously showed his own ignorance of the day, when he referred to Japan "dropping the bomb" on Pearl Harbor. Only twice in human history has a piece of ordinance been significant enough to be referred to in the singular, Those were the two atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. "The Bomb" is atomic. The bombs (plural) used on Pearl were conventional, not atomic. Details!

I suppose we could jump on the bandwagon and blame our constantly declining public education. Despite the bleating on the Left, throwing more money at the problem is not the solution, after trying it for decades.

So, what are we left with? An annual documentary or two on public television? A declining number of human interest features as we watch a declining number of veterans return to Pearl for an anniversary remembrance? It's unfortunate, but people who can't name even three Founding Fathers can name a half a dozen Kardashians. 54-40 or fight? Tippecanoe and Tyler, too? "From which country did we declare our independence"??? Might as well be speaking Klingon! (No. A few might actually understand Klingon!)

I will remember Pearl Harbor as a significant turning point in American and world history for as long as I live.  The tragic loss of life and the motivation it provided to the US to enter the war and take leadership of an alliance against the axis of evil of its day, teaches us lessons that ought not be forgotten. Unless, of course, they're never learned in the first place.

Will this generation learn from the lessons of history? Or are they doomed to repeat them?

Magic Eight Ball says: Outlook not so good.

To The Memory Of The Gallant Men Here Entombed

The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial floats gracefully over the sunken remains of the ship for which it is named.  It is a striking visual.  Every fifteen minutes, 150 visitors are ferried across the harbor to stand on the platform.

 

Over time the memorial has suffered from the heavy traffic and the effects of time and the elements.

When you stand on the platform you are struck by the reverence with which the memorial was constructed.  It is, after all, the gravesite of 1177 men.  To this day, the ship still weeps for her dead.

The Arizona had 1.4 million gallons of fuel on board when she went down, and perhaps half a million gallons remain. About a quart and a half a day bubbles up from below. Pearl Harbor survivors call the seepage “black tears.” It’s eerie to see and, in a strange way, a seemingly tangible connection to those who lie below.

When I visited Pearl Harbor, I purchased a flag that had been flown from the memorial on September 11^th.  I needn’t tell you why I feel there’s a connection between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attack on America on September 11, 2001.

Today, about 120 survivors will join Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, military leaders and civilians to observe a moment of silence in Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time—the moment the attack began seven decades ago.


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