Dec. 7, 1941. Not the first nor the only attack on American soil by a foreign enemy. Still one to be remembered as a learning experience for us to protect our land at all costs. God bless America and those sworn to protect her, past, present and future. Jimsnarocks
and the FIRST role of government is to…
Honor the rights of people to protect themselves???
Another sobering experience is the peace park museum in Hiroshima, Japan.
Semper Fi.
Gary
I wonder how many of these “sobering” places there really are in the world. I am currently reading up about the first world war and it is just fascinating - probably because it is outside our sphere of memory; but the wholesale slaughter of so many fine young people is overwhelming even by our own modern standards. I try to remember them best I can.
Anyway I hope I am not detracting from Pearl Harbour, an awful day in history, that led to many more too. God bless.
Thank heavens for the ATOMIC bomb–many of us wouldnt be here without it going off---------BILL
First role of government:
To protect and defend it’s citizens (in the Preamble: to prepare for the common defense).
Regardless of how the ‘day’ itself turned out, the Imperial Japaneese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor was the seminal event in making the United States the dominant world power for a couple of generations.
While it was a brutal defeat, I always look back at it with pride for how our people, both military and civilian, responded to the adversity.
And, while the atomic attacks were certainly horrible events to endure, it’s not something we should regret. They saved hundreds of thousands of lives, most of them Japaneese.
‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ was a rallying cry that drove a nation to win a war.
Remembering the attack on Pearl Harbor is something that our adversaries should do as well.
The power and abilities of the American Public when it’s united behind a common goal is unparalleled in human history. Hopefully, we won’t ever have to prove it again.
Buddy
You appear to be quite correct!
Interestingly, as I read last night, during the first world war 1914-1918 the original contribution when the US entered in 1917 was virtually insignificant, with only around 100,000 troops able to be sent to the front in Europe. At the time those troops were not well equipped at all either. However, Wilson and conscription within 12 months was able to convert US industry into a mighty fighting machine weilded by 2,000,000 troops! Staggering.
Also, pre Pearl Harbour, I believe Yamamoto was deeply fearful of bringing the US into the war and argued strongly against the idea.
"Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians… [who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war]… have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.[10]" (Wiki)
This quote was spread by the militarists, minus the last sentence, where it was interpreted in America as a boast that Japan would conquer the entire continental United States.The omitted sentence showed Yamamoto’s counsel of caution towards a war that could cost Japan dearly. Nevertheless, Yamamoto accepted the reality of impending war and planned for a quick victory by destroying the US fleet at Pearl Harbor while simultaneously thrusting into the oil and rubber resource rich areas of Southeast Asia, especially the Dutch East Indies, Borneo and Malaya. In naval matters, Yamamoto opposed the building of the super-battleships [i]Yamato[/i] and [i]Musashi[/i] as an unwise investment of resources.(Wiki)
So when persuaded that the US was to be attacked he knew that the first blow would have to be a massive one or Japan was doomed. He devised the plan for Pearl Harbour (I believe) not really thinking it would work to the degree that it did. I think their daring plans success surprised the Japanese as much as anyone else.
Folks, watch the movie “Tora, Tora, Tora”. It has long been considered one of the most accurate recreations of the attack and they key events leading up to it.
I had a W.W.II sailor that worked the graveyard shift at one of my truck stops for me. Pappy was wounded in both legs one day while on a mine sweeper in the Pacific Theater. Pappy told me one time about having to guard the ships that were still capsized in Pearl Harbor. Pappys said he could still hear those boys tapping on the hulls. It haunted him the rest of his days becuse he couldn’t save those trapped souls.
I will never forget any of those that served.
First off the role of the government in that attack. The US new it was coming and did nothing. He wanted a reason for the US to join the war. He needed a way to convince the US people we needed to get involved.
One of my favorite WWII movies is To End All Wars. It’s about the Japanese POW camp that built the “Death” Railroad so that Japan could get deeper into Asia. It isn’t so much about war or fighting as it is the character of the people in the camp and what they learned. It’s based on a true story.
My dad went down and joined the Marines the day after Pearl Harbor. He must have had a lot of company because it took three months to even get to boot camp.
He would never talk about his experience.
My grandparents had a pool and my dad was a great swimmer, but he would never go in the deep end. I always wondered if it had anything to do with his time in the service.
Gary
I have just finished editing (well, co-writing really) a book written by my father-in-law who was a Japanese interpreter in the Intelligence Service and subsequent trials of Japanese War Criminals by the Aussy Govt in Rabaul New Guinea.
It was horrendous reading. The railroad that joerogrz mentioned features in the story, along with torture camps, exterminations and the infamous Sandakan Death Marches and Ocean Osland Massacres.
God bless all those souls, and those here who had family that served, I don’t envy them their task.
Not wanting to sound harsh after a nice post but this day was referred to by Roosevelt as the DATE of infamy. It has been morphed into DAY over these many years.
" Yesterday, Dec. 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy…". That is why he mentioned the actual date of the day.
Thanks for a nice post.
Here’s a link to the whole speech. YOu can read and listen to it. I did not realize all the attacks Japan made on that day and the day after until I listened to the speech on the link below.
Listen to Pres Roosevelts speach to the nation on BigBadWulffs post above—I listen to it live that day. Lucky489 above said our country already knew it was comming–I had been hired to be one of the first to work at a newly planned air base a week before the attack. The planes at the air base near Pearl were moved close together weeks before so that they would be harder to sabotaged from the ground–and that made them easier to bomb.
I always remember the ending of the movie Tora-Tora when the Japananese comander said “Im afraid we have awoken a sleeping tiger”