Who remembers?
USS West Virginia Burning in Pearl Harbor
Many won’t.
Remember what? Saturday errands, check the antifreeze, go to that Christmas sale? No, something a long sight more significant.
Eighty-three years ago the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
2403 killed. 1178 additional wounded. Wiki
353 Japanese aircraft launched in two waves from 6 carriers lurking below the horizon. We tend to forget that in one seven-hour period, the Japanese launched a multi-pronged attack over thousands of miles, also hitting us in the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island. Not to be forgotten, the Brits got hit in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attackers fared better than we did at Pearl – 29 aircraft downed, 5 midget submarines sunk, 129 killed.
Given the trend over the last several years, I would not be shocked to find that most of the mass media ignores it. They certainly did last year. Ancient history, right? Over two generations ago.
It triggered our entry into World War II. Our 419,000 deaths pale beside some of the biggest losers (world wide 70-80 million, a quarter of which came from China and Russia alone.) But they were ours. Wiki II
Our kids. Our sons, our daughters.
Remember.
We need to get back to “a terrible resolve” that only stops when the enemy begs to surrender.
In a few weeks, we will have someone in office who won’t be afraid to tell those who seek to harm us to sit down, shut up and I’m not telling you again.
A word to the wise should be sufficient.
My biggest fear is he won’t be able to get anything done before the midterms and we will once again come close to, but fall short of glory.
Nuclear weapons have changed the world for the worse. No longer can responding to an aggressor end well. The world can be changed forever with a nuclear response. Peace through strength is now more important than it ever has been. Also developing anti missile systems that can respond to the new age weapons.
I’ve met many people over the years who served in WW2. They will be remembered and honored for their courage to protect freedom around the world.
Amen.
“Kill enough of them and they’ll quit fighting.”
Those of us with a personal connection to WWII thru either Fighting Men and “Rosie The Riveter” relatives can never forget. We can only try and teach others that the “Eternal Vigilance” is something that will always be needed. The next “sneak attack” will come from inside our borders.
“The next “sneak attack” will come from inside our borders”
Already has.
Just ask Jamie Raskin. He’s already calling for a new civil war.
They’re not even attempting to be sneaky. They’re invited in, flown in by our own government in thousands of cases, and well provided for.
Israel is in that situation, fighting an enemy whose goal is exactly genocide. Yet far too many of the rest of the world, including the loony left here, can’t see that.
IMO the lessons of Pearl Harbor have definitely been forgotten by too many in this country.
The loony left sees Israel committing genocide. Fighting for your existence is not genocide, it’s the opposite. A very simple concept.
I read an article somewhere that on December 7, 1951 the 10th anniversary of the attack was mentioned on nearly the last page of every major newspaper in America. It mentions that the release of Tora Tora Tora in 1970 brought it back into the frame for many young Americans born after the war’s end.
Given the recent poll that showed many — if not most of America’s youth today would flee the country rather than fight for it under any circumstances, I fear that by the centennial of the attack most won’t even care anymore.
Just did a quick check of news sites. CNN and Fox had nothing on main page about Pearl Harbor. Associated Press did. Not sure what to make of that.
Very little out there on the multiple news feeds that I look at. A good bit on various blog sites. Stole this one to share. Some good original photos (albeit original article published in ’14). Worth a few minutes to peruse.
https://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2024/12/pearl-harbor-december-7-1941.html
Fox did cover the Pearl Harbor ceremonies later in the day.
Who remembers? Ok here’s a memory test:
How many wars were we involved in on Dec 6 1941?
How many wars have we been involved in since Dec 7 1941?
How many wars are we involved in today?
Take your time…I’ll wait.
The phrase “how many we have been involved in” makes it near impossible to figure out how many wars we have been involved in supporting. I just know that it’s too many and too costly in lives lost. Not to mention the money wasted.
https://hmstypicallydefiant.blogspot.com/2024/12/that-infamous-day.html
I wasn’t born then, but it was a big thing growing up. I think of it every year on the anniversary. In grade school in Arizona they gave out cards like those from the March of Dimes to raise mone for the the monument at the USS Arizona.
Fewer and fewer of those from that day are still around.
Reminds me of Whitman’s poem on the death of US Grant:
It was before I was born but I learned about it from my parents. I take every opportunity to teach it to my kids generation. Today is the local Christas Parade, and I chose to spin my son up about the Day of Infamy as I was dropping him off so he could march in it as part of his school JROTC program. Knowing my son I am confident that he will get soe of the other cadets thinking about is as well.
In my lifetime there are a number of unforgettable moments, JFKs assassination, the first moon landing, the attacks on 9/11.
Dad was in the Movie theater with his date and my future Mom on Sunday when Dad’s date’s Father comes into the movie theater and tells Dad about Pearl Harbor and the date had to wait because Dad had to report back to his Base. Dad joined the The Natl. Guard before the draft started and when FDR started the draft, his unit was now in the US Army.
One of my grandfathers was in the Army when the war started. He volunteered for the Army Air Corp and went on to be a B24 bomb/nav flying out of England.He transferred to the Air Force reserves and stayed there until he retired in the early 70s.
My other grandfather was in college. When he got his degree in Chemical Eng, he was drafted and commissioned, and wound up in the Manhattan project helping to scale up production of fissionable material for the bombs. After the war he got out and worked in the nuclear defense industry until the early 80s.
I always joked that they were to “blame” for me joining the Army, as my dad had a college deferment during college and another deferment for his job after college, he never got drafted for Vietnam.
Both of my grandfathers made it well into the 21st century and got to see me take part in my own war in Iraq.
Growing up in the early 80s I always heard stories about “the war” from the both of them, so Pearl Harbor was always more than just a paragraph in my history book that we passed over once a school year.
So yeah, I remember.
Going to school in the 1950’s, History class always had Pearl Harbor taught to the students. We had a retired NYPD LEO who put in his twenty and came to work for us untill he hit 62.. he was trained as a WW2 fighter pilot and wound up in Kent England flying B 17’s, and During Korea, he flew fighters.
They disturbed it,
I’ve mentiooned before that my uncle was there during the attack (ashore for Mass). He was active in a Pearl Harbor survivor organization later in life. It is most disappointing to see the assualt is fading from the public memory. I remind my family every year.
Cue the ‘professors’ of revision history telling us the dropping of Fat Man & Little Boy to end the war was unnecessary. You’ll hear they were going to surrender anyway (<cough-bullshit!). After the fighting on Tarawa, Guam, Iwo, ect…The US got a real taste of a Home Island invasion on Okinawa. The city fighting there and in Manilla made the decision easier. Watch the movie ‘Japan’s Longest Day’ as it covers the attempt coup to stop the Emperor’s broadcast of Japan’s unconditional surrender. The bombs saved 10 million plus Japanese and several hundred thousand American lives including my grandfather possibly. It was terrible day, but American became a world superpower in its aftermath.
Operation Downfall would have been a bloodbath for all.
Little Boy and Fat Man prevented that.
There is also a very good chance the Red Army would have also invaded Japan which would have turned into a North/South or East/West situation where half the country would be under Communism.
I remember the date.
My parents spoke of it annually.
Are you kidding me? Who’s going to remember December 7, 1941, when so many have forgotten even September 11, 2001? After all, we have young adults now who weren’t even born when the Towers fell. Many of these same young men and women are the ones telling us how wrong we are in our beliefs and how much better they can make the world.
I’m a relative spring chicken. My dad was a little over a year old when the Japanese attacked, and I wasn’t around until nearly 37 years afterwards. Even so, I made a point to remind my fellow Soldiers of the significance of today while I still served, and I tried to find all of the Pearl Harbor Survivor Association markers I could in Arlington National Cemetery.
As the Greatest Generation rapidly fades away, and the Boomers who have second-hand knowledge of why we fought WWII lose their war of attrition with Death, the events of December 7, 1941, will continue to fade from our nation’s collective memory. Eventually, “Remember Pearl Harbor” will be little more than a catchphrase outlined in a sentence or two in history books, much like “Remember the Alamo” or “Remember the Maine”.
The local news did a story on Pearl Harbor last night, and mentioned there are 30 or maybe 40 something survivors left.
None. The last has passed.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/04/02/last-uss-arizona-sailor-who-survived-pearl-harbor-attack-passes-away-at-102/
Sorry. Brain cramp. Last Arizona survivor.
I wasn’t born yet, but it motivated my father to join the infantry. I’ll always remember, just as he did.
It boggles my mind when I realize that almost half of the deaths on that day took place in a split second within the decks and bulkheads of the USS Arizona. And that was captured on film…much the same as the next “day of Infamy” on 9/11 was captured on video, upon video, and live TV.
I wonder, sometimes, why there are people who still think this is a “safe and peaceful” world, and that we don’t need “rough men, ready to do violence” upon the behalf of so many weak and unawake sheep.
I actually saw a quote from a “soyboy” who said; “I don’t need a ‘rough man’ to ‘do violence for me’, because I believe in peaceful existence”.
That’s a soyboy who just don’t get it.
I believe in peaceful existence too. My favorite vision is one where I am living in a world where I can go outside my home and I can look upon warm sunshine, green grass, rainbows, and fields of Unicorns. My GOD would that be wonderful!
But I live in the REAL world…and I know that that vision is just a backdrop, and that behind that are bad men who do NOT share my wish for peace, and green grass, and Unicorns. They only want to oppress me. So, I have to be ready to go out and KILL them…
And that, my friends, is not something I really want to do.