An unknown visitor to the National World War II Memorial in
Washington, D.C., walks near a quote made by then-President Franklin D.
Roosevelt hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other United
States military installations in the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941. Additional
attacks on American bases followed in the Phillipines, Malaysia, Wake Island,
Guam, Thailand, Shanhai and Midway. Since that time, each year December 7 is
designated as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Today -- December 7, 2018 -- is the
77th anniversary of the attack. Included here are three videos, one a History
Channel presentation featuring interviews with survivors of the Pearl Harbor
assault which was broadcast for an earlier anniversary. I am including it now
because the content is as relevant and as poignant today as it was when the
conversations were conducted and recorded. The other two videos are
self-explanatory.
For the record, 2008 sailors were killed and 710 others wounded;
218 soldiers and airmen were killed and 364 wounded; 109 marines were killed
and 69 wounded; 68 civilians were killed and 35 wounded. In total, 2,335
American servicemen were killed and 1,143 were wounded. It would be fitting and
appropriate for this "remembrance day" to exist as long as there is a
United States of America .... I hope it will be ....
6 comments:
That was a surprise strike by Japanese against the United States at Pearl Harbor. After this attack the United States entered the Second World War. I always wondered what was keeping the American government from entering the war sooner? Was it a lack of a strong military or something else?
Anyway, this is a nice tribute to the tragic day, Fram. In the first video is a very beautiful song and I was deeply touched by the long list of people who died during the attack. So many lives, so many dreams and hopes were killed in one single day.
And then in the second video the memories of people who survived. I couldn't watch it to the end. It's too tragic.
Have a nice weekend, Fram and stay warm.
There were a number of reasons the United States was slow to enter World War II. Among them was the fact there was a great deal of sympathy for the Nazi movement in the U.S. during the 1930s which included some very influential people, such as Charles Lindbergh, who publicly espoused their views. There was an organization named the German American Bund, which held rallies. Many notable businessmen were engaged in high stakes dealings with fascist countries. Some of the primary and more famous Americans who were involved with the fascist regimes of Europe were Joseph Kennedy, John Rockefeller, Allen Dulles and Prescott Bush. And, yes, Joe Kennedy was the father of JFK and Prescott Bush the father of George Bush 41.
On the other side of the coin, without the American Lend Lease program which began in March 1941, Great Britain and other allied nations would have been sunk. The U.S. was supplying England and other countries fighting Germany, Italy and Japan with weapons, ships, aircraft, food and all manner of essentials.
In a sense, things sort of evened out that way and the U.S. was not prepared militarily for war .... and, most Americans were opposed to getting involved in any war until the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor.
It truly is a beautiful song in the first video. I recognize it, but for the life of me cannot recall its name. Toward the end of the second video, the survivors begin talking about how they no longer have any animosity toward Japan or the Japanese, and only live for the future.
Thank you, Kaya, for coming and for writing your thoughts here. You have a good weekend, too .... I enjoy your company ....
Videos 1 and 2 show a nice tribute of a tragic day and who survived.
have a great weekend
Hi Fram!
Nice post!
I like your comment to Kaya very much!Lets us know more about why usa took so long getting into the second world war.I didnt know that and makes the history picture better .
Both videos are great.
Wish you a happy sunday!
Anita
Thank you, Tanza.
There is novel by Herman Wouk later turned into a television miniseries entitled, "War and Remembrance." The two words, to me, seem meant to go hand-in-hand.
Incidentally, Wouk was a United States naval officer during World War II and is writing from experience in that sense. As a footnote, Wouk still is living at age 103. Good genes, I guess ....
Thank you, Anita.
Most things happen or do not happen because money and power are the seeds, I think. Add to that the fact most of humankind is characterized by our lemming-like tendency to group en masse and head for the nearest cliff. I am not sure there is much else to say about the enthusiasm or lack of it for engaging in a second world war only twenty years after the first "war to end all wars" concluded.
I mean, think of twenty years, Anita. Little more than a blink of the eye.
More details and more names could be added to those among the rich and the powerful who look at war either as a hindrance to or as a means for the accumulation of wealth. Henry Kissinger, for instance, negotiated the end to the Vietnam War with an open-ended checkbook .... plain and simple -- no ands, ifs or buts ....
Uffff .... I am getting carried away again ....
Yes, a happy Sunday to you, too, Anita .... and, a safe/healthy/prosperous week ....
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