“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”

      Quote of the Day

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that
something else is more important than fear.”
― Ambrose Redmoon

   

        Today is December 7, 2012. It’s hard to believe, but 71 years ago today, Pear Harbor was attacked and bombed by the Empire of Japan. The year was 1941, and it was a beautiful warm and sunny day in the islands of Hawaii.  Hundreds of unsuspecting tourist and military personnel were relaxing on the beach, or getting up to eat a leisurely breakfast. No one knew it what was coming, who would? Who would have guessed that secretly under the guise of peace talks with the US, The Japanese Imperial fleet crossed the Pacific with one thing on their mind, the destruction of the US, specifically, the Navel and other bases located on the Hawaiian Islands. Pear Harbor bore the brunt of the attack. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Six of these ships were later repaired and returned to service. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer. The attack came as a shock to the American public, and led the President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare that this would be a day that would live in infamy. War was declared on Japan, and brought the US into WWII, something they had been trying very hard up to that point to stay out of.  The USS Arizona was one of the destroyers that were sunk that day. It lies today still under the warm waters of the Pacific as a silent memorial to the 1177 sailors that died that day within its belly.

        I remember the first time I visited the Arizona memorial in Pear Harbor. They show a short video of old news clips of what happened that day. After that, they take you out on a boat where you can go aboard the memorial that spans the breadth of the sunken destroyed. Unbelievably, you can still see oil bubbling out. Some call these the Arizona’s tears. You can’t help but have a solemn and hallowed feeling when you go there and see it for yourself. Certainly something I will never forget. I am thankful for those men and women that serve our country, and to those that gave their lives, in any war to preserve the freedom of the United States, I say thank-you for your sacrifice. I pray that we as a people can live up to their service.