Back before 9/11 united Americans in a common purpose, back before the Challenger disaster, before the Kennedy assassination – there was Pearl Harbor.
Today it seems Pearl Harbor has largely been swept away in the rush to the mall but there was a time when remembering the most successful foreign assault on U.S. soil since 1812 was a big, big deal.
For those who somehow don’t know the story, the “date that will live in infamy” as President Roosevelt so famously said, dawned early Dec. 7, 1941 when Japanese aircraft attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, at the time headquarters for the United State’s Pacific Command.
More than 2400 Americans died in the assault, almost all of them servicemen.
For Americans alive at the time, it galvanized public opinion like never before, immediately swinging the American national mood from firmly isolationist to absolute commitment to the war effort.
As a child growing up after the Great War it seemed such a simple time. We knew the enemy. They attacked us. They wore the black hats. We wore the white hats. We were the Gary Cooper of nations.
The story of how we were admittedly caught napping but rallied to defeat not one but two empires bent on world domination inside of four years has long been a source of national pride, and rightfully so.
Every American had a role to play whether buying war bonds, planting a “Victory Garden” or living with the rationing of foodstuffs and gasoline. Can you imagine the government trying to ration gasoline now?
These days our American servicemen are beating the bushes in Afghanistan looking for a bunch of thugs who blend in very well with the good guys. The good guy/bad guy roles are not as clearly drawn as they once were.
At the very least, the Japanese had enough honor to attack an honest to God military target.
We call attention to this Pearl Harbor Day, because, almost 60 years later the Americans of that generation who did the heavy lifting are fast making their way off the stage and we need to remember their effort and honor what they did.
When America and Americans got knocked down Dec. 7, 1941, like a champion they got up and finished the fight.
