Today, is Sunday December 7, 2008, A Day of Remembrance- It is almost 9 a.m. local time. In 1941, 67 years ago, at this hour for those in Hawaii, and on this December 7th date on a Sunday morning in Hawaii, two separate flights of Japanese war planes were making a suprise attack on the U.S. Navy ships anchored in Pearl Harbor, killing over 2400 Americans. At the time of the attack, there was a condition of peace existing between the U.S. and Japan.
The Japanese aircraft carriers were prepared to launch a third attack flight but did not want to spend more hours in the area and risk a loss of any of them should the U.S. ships at sea already know the location of the Japanese ships. Forturnately, none of the U.S. aircraft carriers were in the harbor that morning. The Japanese thought their attack would cripple the U.S. fighting ability to enable them to win the war but they could not get to the carriers and that was a crucial failing of their attack.
The U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed Congress on Monday, December 8, 1941, and proclaimed December 7th, 1941 as "a day that will live in infamy." War was declared on Japan and a few days later, Germany declared war on the U.S. and World War II had begun for the U.S., lasting until 1945 when the U.S. and it's allies won over the Axis powers, Japan and Germany. Italy was earlier defeated, and it's leader, Benito Mussolini, killed by the Italian citizens.
This was the easily the most treacherous attack upon the U.S. in the 20th Century, being rivaled by the 9-11-01 Attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
RESOURCE ITEMS
FDR's SPEECH TO CONGRESS, 12-8-41:
There is a YouTube video of Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to Congress that conveys the gravity of the situation somewhat and marks the official entry of the U.S. into war. There are several video clips of the speech, but this particular choice is a more complete version with a photo collage and some very clear audio that preserves this historical moment, giving you another example of FDR's leadership role as President. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uCGxk-v-Mc
THE ATTACK
The Pearl Harbor Attack is presented in the form of graphics, audio and timelines in a series of very informative presentations by NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ The locations and times are some points that are more readily understood in seeing them here.
It is a day for remembrance and, like so many other important moment is the history of the United States is not just forgotten by many, it is not even learned by many in the context of the nation's position in the world at that troubled time, with Germany's persecution and extermination of Jews and others under Hitler's rule, and the British struggle to resist attacks on their soil by the German Luftwaffe's pilots.
Many of the survivors of WW II have now died, and this is what Tom Brokaw has called "The Greatest Generation." It was said a few years back that WW II vets were dying at the rate of 1,000 a day, from the over 1 million that helped win the war. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357941,00.html Fox news, 5-24-08
If you know of any WW II veterans, or even people who lived through that time in history, you might see if they will talk about their war experience to record that as a verbal history. Once gone, these memories are lost forever unless recorded. The entire country worked for the U.S. victory that brought all races and ethnicities into the picture. In the U.S. we had rationing and extensive recycling to manage our effort. It was a time of universal involvement and sacrifice to allow us to reach the end of the war.
Latinos were involved in this part of history, too, at home and in combat. Their contribution could and should be explored by the rest of us with just a little attention to talking to them as, in many cases, they are are our own relatives- parents, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunts, and so on. Some have experienced unbelievably horrible things, as hapens in all wars, and do not want to remember some events, but others may and will tell us so that the experiences will be remembered by the rest of us from a more personal aspect.
The month of December 1941 was not a typical time of holidays and celebration but the U.S. survived with a more unified spirit than ever before and for a time after WW II, things were peaceful.
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