Yesterday was December 7, "a day that shall live in infamy". However, looking at our local newspaper, listening to our local TV/Radio news programs, as well as watching the national TV news, I did not hear any mention of the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. So is the attack on Pearl Harbor completely forgotten now? I think this is the first year where I did not hear any mention of the anniversary date at all. So does December 7 still mean anything to any of the vintage people out there?

 

It means a lot to me. I have an uncle who volunteered in the Navy and served until the war ended. He then learned to be an electrician on the G.I. Bill just before being drafted to serve in Korea.

He's never really talked much about the war, at least not to me.

I just think it's a shame the media is more involved in commemorating the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death than remembering Pearl Harbor.

 

Once the people who were involved are all dead, Pearl Harbor will become a myth. I wouldn't be surprised in 50 years if a contingent of people in America start preaching that we brought the bombing on ourselves...

 

Some already do.

 

You don't have to wait 50 years....they're around now. The Lennon comparison is interesting....says a lot about the celebrity worshiping culture we live in.

 

It's hard for me not to remember since I drive by PH everyday. The media likes "round numbers" so 25th is more "newsworthy" than the 54th anniversary. It was a pretty big deal back in 2001!

 

It was mentioned on the radio quite a few times here in the New York metropolitan region.

 

The President issued a proclamation to have the flags at all Federal buildings flown at half staff yesterday. So, some people have not forgotten.

I have visited the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial on several occasions over the years. The first time was in 1979, the last time was in March of 2003. It is a very moving experience. There are two things that come to mind right away. The quiet reverence that everyone has, including the MANY Japanese tourist that visit the Memorial.

But the part that really sticks with me. Is that after fifty-four years, the Arizona is still weeping diesel fuel. On my first visit the fuel drops would bubble to the surface about a little over two minute intervals. On my last visit the interval was down to about every twenty to twenty-five seconds. The folk lore now is: That like the sand in an hour glass that seems to move faster as it gets near the end. Than at the rate that the survivors are dying off increases every day, the bubbles will come faster and faster, and stop when the last remaining survivor dies.

 

I remembered, my parents were of "that generation" and the first records I played were 78's from that period, "Remember Pearl Harbor," "Deck of Cards," etc.
That said, US neutrality during the period of 1938-1941 was not completely neutral. We were supplying Britain and France with our best, as good as it was, military equipment. The Chinese had the assistance of the American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, under US general Claire Chenneault. The politics in the far east were quilte convoluted.
Did we deserve the attack? Hell, no! Should we have been more prepared? Hell, yes.

 

If it is any comfort most of the channels up here had at least a small piece on the anniversary and at the end of the ABC news they showed the ceremony at Pearl Harbour. I guess the current generation's Pearl Harbour is 9/11

But as the veterans fade away it is going to be an uphill struggle to keep events such as Pearl Harbour in the hearts and minds of those who have no connection to the distant war they may read about in the History books.