I remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. I lived in Timber Lake, SD, a small town west of the Missouri River. It was Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was nine years old.
So what? most of you might say. Why, I weren’t even born then! If so, I suggest you belong in what psychologists define as an “out-group.” If you’re not familiar with the word, imagine this. Suppose you learn of a massacre of 30 children in the Ukraine. How would you feel?
Next assume you just have been informed that 30 children have been murdered in a school one block from your home? How would you feel? In the Ukraine case you would be part of an out-group because you have no direct link to the event. In the local case, you might even know some of the children. So you would be part of the in-group. Would your emotions be different in the two situations?
In-groups and out-groups can be defined in many ways: having the same ethnicity, the same religion, the same location, or even, according to me, living in the same time frame.
I was railroaded into this train of thought this morning when I looked at my kitchen Word of the Day Calendar and discovered that it didn’t even mention that today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Shocking, I thought. (I felt better when I saw that my At-A-Glance desk calendar proudly mentioned that fact in CAPITAL LETTERS (and it even added the tidbit that we have a full moon today).
Anyway, as a member of the in-group who was alive during the attack on Pearl Harbor, here’s the briefest summary of that day. The attack by three types of Japanese airplanes (torpedo planes, bombers and fighters) began early on Sunday morning. The destruction was massive See here.
We had no television (no one did at that time), but the news came over our radio on its shelf in the living room. We heard anxious voices at the scene being interrupted by explosions and the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire. We quickly learned of heavy losses that included the battleships USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma that sank to ocean’s bottom. Six other battleships were damaged, along with cruisers, destroyers, and other vessels.
More than 2,300 Americans were killed during the battle and another 1,100 wounded. This, of course, was the event that propelled us into World War II. On the next day, December 8, it was an unusually warm day in Timber Lake, and I was standing outside the open front door of our little home on Timber Lake’s Main Street, listening to our radio through the screen door when President Roosevelt came on the air and gave his Day of Infamy speech. I can still hear his voice, probably because I’ve heard it numerous times since then in recordings made at the time. His opening sentence was:
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” Even I, at nine years old, recognized the significance of his words. So I say, again, “Remember Pearl Harbor!”
Tensions had been rising between Japan and the United States for some time before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tensions possibly similar to the world today as dictators are rattling their warhead and shooting them into the oceans. Meanwhile, the Russian attack on Ukraine smolders on. You may have heard that Ukrainian drones recently attacked air bases within Russia. The war seems to be getting hotter. And this is up-to-date: Vladimir Putin just said, minutes ago, just as I was about to hit “publish” on this post, that nuclear risk is rising, a possibility I have considered here before (See here).
Thought for the day: Let us hope that another day of infamy is not around the corner.
Thanks for your post. My husband put our flag out first thing this morning. When our generation is gone, probably the day of remembrance will also disappear.
Glad to hear your flag was out today, Nancy. I noticed a few flying while I was out on errands. You’re probably right about the day of remembrance fading away. Events in history recede and leave less impact on succeeding generations. For example, our Civil War was bloody almost beyond belief, and although I still remember that years that war was fought, I have no idea when the opening battle of Fort Sumter was fought. It took place years before our time.
I remember it too, even at 8 years old. I sat in living room watching my parents listening to the radio about the attack. We lived in Cicero IL bordering the west side of Chicago. I could see the look of shock on their faces and great concern. I understood the phrase “We’re at war”. I saw the effects of the war in Europe by seeing the news shorts in the movie theater. It showed the horror of the Germans attacking Russia. Scenes of dead soldiers lying in the snow and frozen civilian bodies still hanging in the town square. That sure made an impact on me. Early in 1942 the war movies revealed pictures from places like Bataan and Wake Island, the scenes suggesting we were losing the war. Our lives were changed in big ways for the next 4 years. Rationing of many items, and no cars were built until 1946, our factories for that time producing jeeps, trucks and airplanes for the war.
Right, Chuck. You and I are near in age, and when the war started we couldn’t know we were destined to meet some ten years later, each of us dressed in Air Force blue as we studied the intricacies of weather patterns, and became friends for life. After my four-year tour of duty, I moved on to other activities, but you stayed with the Air Force and made a career of it. Good to hear from you, Colonel Chuck. Stay well!