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Encounters of the Kid KindLife With A Man |
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© 2002 Carole Moore |
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Some worry the events of Sept. 11th
will eclipse the single most terrible act of war ever committed on U.S. soil – the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – and relegate it to the sidelines of history. But if the events of that morning in 1941 ever pass into triviality, it won't be because something more important nudged it aside. It will happen because we've neglected to teach our history to our children.
It's hard to think Pearl Harbor and the "Day of Infamy" could ever disappear from our nation's collective consciousness. A look at what transpired in that gripping drama reveals much about the U.S. as a
country – at that time comfortable in its isolation, yet ready to answer the call to arms when it came. Just days before on Dec. 4th, U.S. intelligence intercepted a message to Japanese
officials instructing them to destroy their code books. With Europe already engulfed in war, the U.S. military community was bracing itself for what they saw as inevitable: America's fall from neutrality. At that time
no one knew how soon it would come to fruition. As the Japanese strike force refueled to capacity for the long flight to Hawaii's shores, rumblings of something afoot stirred here and there, noted but not
tallied up. As a result, the country was caught flat-footed when, at 7:55 AM in the morning of Dec. 7th, an Imperial Japanese Naval strike force launched 350 aircraft from the decks of its six carriers.
Under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the task force managed to sail the Pacific without raising an alarm. At the time of the attack on Hawaii, the Japanese army was poised for invasion in the Far East, in an
effort to win Singapore. When the day was over, a jubilant Tokyo would discover its forces had inflicted serious damages on the U.S. Pacific Fleet: 3,400 casualties total with 2,403 of those killed, including 69 of
civilians, and 169 aircraft completely destroyed. Another 150 aircraft were damaged and the USS Arizona and Oklahoma sunk. As Japan rejoiced, the U.S. declared war. The following day Italy and Germany declared war on
the U.S. The die was cast: there was no going back. Americans rallied behind their country. They put on their boxing gloves and dared the Axis powers to try it again. They went to war – every man, woman and child of
them. But the Marines, well, they were already fighting. The U.S. Marine detachment at Pearl Harbor was heavily involved in fighting at Pearl Harbor: When the first bombs struck the base, the Marine Color Guard was
preparing to hoist the flag and awaken the men in the barracks. Tossed into battle in a split second, they hoisted Old Glory and sounded general quarters, then got down to business. Several Marines dragged a machine gun
up to the roof of the barracks and opened fire on their attackers. In the meantime, the battle raged on land and aboard the ships moored in the harbor, with additional Marines joining the fight. Many perished that day,
and during the course of the war many more would follow, falling on a series of islands in the Pacific with names like Peleliu and Iwo Jima. It would be a shame if the battle that precipitated America's
involvement in World War II, and one in which U.S. Marines fought and died for their country, was allowed to fade from memory. For while the events of Sept. 11th
were terrible, they shouldn't obscure the remembrance of Pearl Harbor and the valiant men who stood alone against Japanese aggression. |
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