Remember Pearl Harbor: the 79th anniversary
[NOTE: This is a somewhat-edited version of a previous post.]
Today is the seventy-ninth anniversary of the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. The generation that reacted to it by mobilizing and fighting World War II is on its last legs. But they were the ones we still call “the Greatest.”
I was reminded of this a few years ago while watching one of those Oliver North “War Stories” TV shows about Pearl Harbor. It featured some of the elderly participants reminiscing about that long ago day. Before each one spoke, there was a photograph of him back in 1941: young, vibrant, handsome, full of life. Now they were ancient, and most only vaguely resembled their former selves. But they still transmitted great moral strength and a kind of Gary-Cooperesque stoicism and understated bravery as they told their stories.
On the 75th anniversary there were still quite a few WWII veterans alive:
The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have data on veterans of individual battles, and an alumni association for the battle disbanded in 2011, at the 70th anniversary, when it believed just 8,000 of the 84,000 uniformed Americans on Oahu during the attack remained alive. Since 2011, roughly half of veterans of World War II who were alive then have died, according to VA projections, leaving fewer than 700,000 alive today. Roughly 400 American WWII veterans die each day.
Obviously the number of Pearl Harbor veterans alive has only gotten smaller since that was written—as it will every year until the number is zero. And then, we will still remember? In fact, do most of us remember Pearl Harbor now? Time marches on, and even 9/11 has faded into the background for most people.
I’m not really sure what our younger generation today remembers, or wishes to remember – or through what strange leftist prism it will be taught to remember it if it’s taught at all.
Here’s a post I published twelve years ago on Pearl Harbor Day. It focuses on FDR’s famous speech afterward, and the will and resolve he amply demonstrated.
Here is just a little bit of Roosevelt’s post-Pearl Harbor speech, in case we need reminding of what American resolve used to sound like:
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.
“Righteous might.”
Here’s the speech itself:
The memorable phrase that began FDR’s address, “a date which will live in infamy,” wasn’t in Roosevelt’s earlier draft. That draft reads “a date which will live in world history.” That sounds like a high school essay; Roosevelt crossed out “world history” and added “infamy” in his own hand. He also changed “simultaneously and deliberately attacked” to “suddenly and deliberately attacked.”
Wise choices.
Neo,
Thanks for this reminder of what effective political oratory sounds and looks like.
Drachinifel has 3 videos about aftermath of the attack specifically salvage operations and what was involved for ships and the facilities, each 30 min. or so.
Part 1 https://youtu.be/bB-V9cCSC8o
Part 2 https://youtu.be/DlLCe1WNaIE
Part 3 https://youtu.be/eibt2gYuFD4
We are in an undeclared war with China right not. It’s not a shooting war. Yet.
The Chinese routinely steal our IP. They launched a virus into this country – quite intentionally – that has killed nearly a quarter million. Additionally, they have hit our economy very hard. But the most important thing is that China swung the election and it looks like their bought-and-paid-for stooge might be elected President.
I still believe in patriotism and the rule of law and I think Trump will remain as President, but it will be close. We need champions and brave people in state legislatures. I’m confident that Justice Alito will come through this week.
The shocking thing to me is that so many Americans have sold out to the Chinese. The Biden crime family is Exhibit A, but there are plenty others.
Biden, of course, would never try to collect from the Chinese. Trump, however, has vowed to collect money. I think the Chinese should issue perpetual bonds like were done with the South Sea Bubble. They would pay the US interest until Kingdom Come or Doomsday.
When I was at the bar of the Casa del Mar in Santa Monica a year ago last month, I kinda, sorta eavesdropped on a meeting between a Chinese filmmaker and an American producer. The Hollywood people sure do want that Chinese money and will produce for that market and censor films for that market. That’s one of the reasons we have such crappy movies these days.
I asked the Chinese guy about Hong Kong and the lack of freedom in China. He said people don’t care as long as they are making money and can go on vacations. As an American and educated by the Jesuits, I have an entirely different set of values.
In response to Prager U’s posting a video asking students what they know about Pearl Harbor, Ann Coulter tweeted in amusing fashion that “they are too busy learning about white privilege”; this problem is ubiquitous and highly pernicious (see Chris Rufo’s latest reporting on the indoctrination being forced on teachers in San Diego by race-hustling grifters). One should expect the toxic bilge of CRT/1619 to become ever more pervasive under the maleficent reign of Kamala and the senile buffoon.
Fellah could write!
Teddy Roosevelt could too.
____________________________________________
Roosevelt was a prolific author, writing with passion on subjects ranging from foreign policy to the importance of the national park system. Roosevelt was also an avid reader of poetry. Poet Robert Frost said that Roosevelt “was our kind. He quoted poetry to me. He knew poetry.”
As an editor of Outlook magazine, Roosevelt had weekly access to a large, educated national audience. In all, Roosevelt wrote about 18 books (each in several editions)…
–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Historiography
____________________________________________
I remember writers like Michael Chabon going on about Obama for his books.
Today’s high school and college “educated” folks obviously would blame the USA for “forcing” Japan to attack the imperialistic, racist USA. You know, the USA deserved to be attacked.
Or perhaps because of the USA’s imperialism, it “forced” Japan to seek hegemony in Asia and to protect itself from the big, bad USA, it was “forced” to attack the USA.
Hard to believe that in the 1940s, millions of 18 to 28 year old “boys” were sent off to battle on Iwo Jima, Okinawa , Normandy , the Bulge, Tarawa, etc. Many of that age group today is to busy smashing shop windows in US cities.
}}}That’s one of the reasons we have such crappy movies these days.
Arrogant, Woken Laziness is the main reason we have such crappy movies…
My wife, who was five, says that she remembers the radio news bulletins and was very frightened. I was six and don’t remember. I am sure that I was very busy at the time.
Certainly, our worlds changed. I remember that my boyhood hero, an older cousin, was an Air Raid Warden. He was 17. By the time he was 19, he was a tail gunner in a B-17 flying missions over Europe. (He survived and retired from the Air Force as a B-52 pilot.) The young man next door, and the one across the street were both killed Air Corps pilots. My Dad went to Brazil to do war work. Brazil was a strategic location early int the war. When he returned he was drafted, even though he was over 30 years old and had three children. Corruption is not new to 2020; Mother’s previous father-in-law was head of the local draft board. That teen marriage had ended quickly due to abuse.
In the ’60s I served with an Officer who had been a Navy Signalman at Pearl Harbor during the attack. He was in the signal tower, high above the harbor, and had a bird’s eye view. He said that they had a particular coded flag hoist to signal air attack. No one remembered the proper flag sequence, so they hoisted flags spelling A-I-R-R-A-I-D. I doubt that anyone noticed.
Few today can appreciate, or even comprehend, the chain of events that were set in motion that Sunday morning.
}}} Hard to believe that in the 1940s, millions of 18 to 28 year old “boys” were sent off to battle on Iwo Jima, Okinawa , Normandy , the Bulge, Tarawa, etc. Many of that age group today is to busy smashing shop windows in US cities.
What you — and so many — have really forgotten is that the average age for a serviceman in WWII was about 23. Contrast that to 20 for those serving in Vietnam.
By 23 most of today’s “boys” are out of college… Not out of mommy’s basement, unfortunately. They might not have been out of the basement in 1940, either, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
I wonder how many high school and college students “remember” Pearl Harbor. I can’t find any polls on that. I’m a bit afraid to know.
But I can bet students have heard of the internment camps for the Japanese.
OBloodyHell,
Antifa in their black boots and black helmets and masks and whatnot got routed in Olympia on Saturday by a bunch of people in sneakers and sweatshirts and baseball caps. They got beat down and driven from the field.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/watch-multiple-brawls-break-trump-supporters-antifa-olympia-militant-leftist-puts-desperate-call-backup-twitter/
They were the greatest generation. They sacrificed to make a better life for us. And they succeeded. They also succeeded in an unprecedented way in improving the lives of the enemy nations in almost unimaginable ways.
Sadly, and I say this with a kind of resignation regarding human behavior, they made life – compared to pre-war life – easy. And with that came the loss of discipline, respect and restraint, hallmarks of civilized society.
We’ve gotten stupid about what made us great.
Today I certainly remember my Dad. He was at Pearl Harbor when the attack occurred. He never said much about it until he and I both were much older. His General Quarters station was high above the ship in what is called a “crows nest”. He saw the Arizona blow up. His ship was tied up to the older Battleship USS Utah, which was sunk. She still has men entombed like the Arizona. Dad said he had a clear view of some of the Japanese pilots, eye to eye.
I really miss his him. He died at age 89 in 2007.
SHIREHOME:
RIP to your Greatest Generation father.
SHIREHOME:
Your father, RIP, was on the USS Raleigh? Berthed in F12 next to the USS Utah?
My dad was in the Army rather than the Navy in WWII– he entered in early 1942 and became a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. His war included the invasion of Sicily and the Battle of the Bulge as well as D-Day. Although he wasn’t at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41, he did think of the attack as the reason he went off to war. He sometimes hummed a song (written about 10 days after the bombs fell) titled “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Here are the lyrics:
History in every century records an act that lives forevermore.
We’ll recall, as into line we fall,
The thing that happened on Hawaii’s shore.
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe.
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we did the Alamo.
We will always remember how they died for Liberty.
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
And go on to victory.
And here is a link to the original Sammy Kaye version of the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9y3_cl5_SQ&ab_channel=SammyKaye%26HisOrchestra-Topic
As for the ongoing loss of WWII veterans, too many of them died at relatively early ages after 1945. My dad died suddenly of a heart attack when I was only 15– the medical examiner told my mother that it was most likely a delayed reaction to combat stress. He was only 51 when he died– 20 years younger than I am now. I still miss him more than I can say.
They fought for, died and sacrificed so that freedom would survive. Once again we are faced with that test.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln
Cornhead,
“I asked the Chinese guy about Hong Kong and the lack of freedom in China. He said people don’t care as long as they are making money and can go on vacations.”
Bread and Circuses…
M Williams,
Hard men make soft times,
Soft times make weak men,
Weak men make hard times,
Hard times make hard men.
rinse, repeat
If you have an interest in the War in the Pacific, I cannot recommend highly enough Ian Toll’s trilogy, the final book just published.
I think some folks kind of reflexively steer away from ‘war’ stories. But this is so much more than that. I particularly like how Toll weaves into the narrative how/what the leadership on both sides (US and Japan) were thinking.
The following is excerpted from a letter I transcribed for my friend Nate Weiser to a high school class that had asked him to relate his Pearl Harbor experience on Dec 7th, 1941.
Nate had a degree in education with a sports career and had worked his way through college in the depression.
His military career was somewhat unique in that he was both at Pearl and Normandy.
His commander at Pearl had given him permission to forgo mess duties as he pursued radio courses at the local college in Honolulu.
The mess sergeant saw Nate as a slacker for that. When the dishes rattled in the following story, he came out roaring at Nate for dropping them.
Nate and his two friends had been on a date the night before with some nurses.
He was stationed at Pearl in the Army Air Force and he was in radio.
My two friends and I were going to visit a friend later in the day who was in the Navy, and in Pearl Harbor for a short stay. We were in the Mess Hall around 7:50am Sunday morning. We were waiting in line for our Super Sunday Breakfast before we would go to see our friend when around 8:00am, give or take a few minutes, we heard a large noise that shook the building, and all the stacks of dishes that were on the table fell to the floor. The Mess Sergeant came out and was cussing everyone out. Right then, the second bomb fell and the table plus the food went crashing to the floor. I ran to the door and saw the Japanese Insignia on the aircraft and said to Don and Merrill, “Why are the Japanese planes here? This could be war!”
The planes were strafing all over the area. We were going to hide under the warehouse building next to the Mess Hall, but “Indian Joe”, a WW1 veteran told us to get going and try to go to the Residential Area, and go in between the buildings so we wouldn’t get hit. We saw the Number 1 hangar on the runway in flames. Half of it was full of ammunition (rumor had it that we were going to Wake Island in a very short time). They hit that hangar first, they knew what was in it. The planes on the ramp were tail to tail, all they did was strafe down the line and get two planes at a time. The reason they were tail to tail was so every Saturday morning the post could march in front of the commander before we had the weekend free. It was a miserable sight to see with us running for our lives. The planes flew so low that you could see some of the pilots red scarves and goggles. That sight I will never forget.
We finally got to the Residential Area and I went into one of the homes near Schofield Barracks. A sergeant lived there and had a couple of children. He told us to stay for a while and then go back to our base for instructions. It was thought that the Japanese might land and try to take the island over. The sergeant would get his company and go up into the mountains, and if the Japanese did invade, he told his wife what to do. We went back to the barracks, and each one of us got a .45 and a belt full of ammo. The second wave of planes was not as great as the first, but that evening it started to rain. The captain called us in his portable quarters and gave us a box about 8′ long, 6″ wide and 4 or 5″ high. He told us that in case of emergency, this would be our only communications between our squadron and Honolulu, so guard it with all our might. It was a transmitter and receiver, all in one! We were to be sure to let him know where we were at all times. We decided to head toward the mountain, but not too far from the runway, near the captain, and hid in case of invasion, but where the planes would not strafe us. Little did we realize that the water off the mountain (it being a very rainy night) would fill our foxhole. We had a very uncomfortable couple of nights. We were very happy to learn after a couple of days that there would be no invasion by the Japanese. All islands were in blackout nights from here on in. By 1943 I was a Staff Sergeant and I and two other Sgts were sent back to the States to go to OCS. (Nate was to be an officer but declined. Also, his two friends died in the attack). After one and a half months, I asked to be sent back to the Air Force.
I was then assigned to Jefferson Barracks in St.. Louis. From there I was assigned to Richmond, Va with the 365th Fighter Bomber Group, 386th Squadron . I was a Tech Sgt and communication chief for P-47 Thunderbolts in the 9th Air Force. We got an all expenses paid tour of Europe.
Nate got the Bronze Star in Europe. it was an award for an idea he had for aircraft radio that allowed them to turn around and get back in the fight quicker in the event of radio failure.
His friends from the night before didn’t make it through Dec 7th.
Nate passed shortly before his 99th birthday Dec 5th, 2016.
In case you don’t know, I’m proud to say he was my friend.
My father joined the Navy at the tender age of 33 and ended up at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal with a Navy Chief from North Dakota named Don Olds. A few years ago, I learned somewhat by accident that the Chief’s brother Clifford had been killed at Pearl Harbor. But not the way the Navy told the family……
Story here. It is not for the faint of heart.
https://www.usswestvirginia.org/stories/story.php?id=23
My Dad enlisted in the army right out of high school in 1940. He convinced my very reluctant grandfather to sign permission for the enlistment papers by arguing that, “everyone knew that war was coming with Hitler and that he figured, if he got the training needed during peacetime his chances of surviving the coming war would be better than waiting to be drafted and given very little training, as had happened in WWI. Grandpa had no answer for that as he’d seen pics of WWI American troops training with wooden ‘rifles’ and being sent off to war having little to no time with actual rifles.
Dad fought in the 42 Alaskan campaign and saw combat on the Alaskan island of Attu. (“cold as a witches tit!”) After the fighting but while jap fighter bombers were still a threat, he remembered turning to a buddy and saying, “we’re going to win this war”.
His friend wondered what made him so sure? (it didn’t look very good for us in 42)
My Dad said he replied, “look at that mountain of supplies over there.”
His friend said, “what of it?”
“We’re making no effort to disguise it, if the japs bomb it, there’s plenty more to replace it.”
“So?”
“Some general said, it’s logistics that win wars and we’ve got a whole lot more than the japs do. We may not see it but I think he was right.”
I am of a generation, growing up in the early 60s, when everybody remembered and darned near everybody’s dad was a vet. I still put the flag up on Pearl Harbor Day and June 6 (Midway Day) because Dad was a Navy man. And my son (and in time, my grandchildren) will hear it too. Because I’m stubborn, I am. And tradition doesn’t become history until the last person to hear it from an eyewitness is dead.