On a Monday, seventy-two years ago, our nation went to war one day after a jarring wake-up on a peaceful Sunday morning. PEARL HARBOR HAD BEEN ATTACKED BY THE JAPANESE--ships were burning–many were sunk--hundreds of men killed.
The far away tumult in Europe was no longer mere words in the semi-weekly newspaper. Our old battery powered radio brought the horrors right into our living room:
That Sunday had been turned into a very solemn and thoughtful day, especially for my parents, for they remembered WWI. But all wars are different. Different circumstances, different rules, different means of killing….and being killed.
Monday December 8 at 12:30, President Roosevelt addressed Congress in what has become known as his "Day of infamy" speech. It was brief, running to just a little over seven minutes, and was broadcast to the nation. At school we gathered in assembly to listen to the words that changed our lives
What a hornet's nest that attack had disturbed. Going to war meant winning the war, and that's exactly what we intended to do. Men 'joined up.' Women went to work outside their homes. We bought War Bonds to help finance it, and endured severe rationing in order to supply our troops. Old methods of manufacturing were trashed and the assembly line created. Classmates were drafted or volunteered. And before the year was over, we learned some would never return.
Those who were left on the home front listened to heavily censored news. Letters from servicemen had sections blacked out. The newsreels we saw at the movies (no home TV watching of an invasion) were horrible, showing burning convoys of ships, bombing runs and then the resulting devastation. There was an unspoken fear––were we going to be able to win this war?
Two years ago, I saw the faces of survivors of Pearl Harbor––old weathered and wrinkled faces of men in their late eighties and nineties. There were photos of the young men they had been and there were a few stories of their war years that followed. To see those old warriors, to remember the battles they fought for our country, should make us all stop and give serious thought to what we have––and why we have it.
I have some yellowed sheets of newspaper showing our county's young men who had gone to war. Many are now retired business men – and many didn't come back.
Now we are still at war–-often a forgotten war for those on the home front but still a deadly one for those who serve. The 9/11 attack also stirred up a hornet's nest of outrage. But it soon got diluted by uncertainty, delayed action, and a general muddle of unclear goals.
On this 72nd anniversary of the events that changed the world, I hope our values and goals remain as strong as they were in 1941.
We mustn't forget.
Dannie
Monday December 8 at 12:30, President Roosevelt addressed Congress in what has become known as his "Day of infamy" speech. It was brief, running to just a little over seven minutes, and was broadcast to the nation. At school we gathered in assembly to listen to the words that changed our lives
What a hornet's nest that attack had disturbed. Going to war meant winning the war, and that's exactly what we intended to do. Men 'joined up.' Women went to work outside their homes. We bought War Bonds to help finance it, and endured severe rationing in order to supply our troops. Old methods of manufacturing were trashed and the assembly line created. Classmates were drafted or volunteered. And before the year was over, we learned some would never return.
Those who were left on the home front listened to heavily censored news. Letters from servicemen had sections blacked out. The newsreels we saw at the movies (no home TV watching of an invasion) were horrible, showing burning convoys of ships, bombing runs and then the resulting devastation. There was an unspoken fear––were we going to be able to win this war?
Two years ago, I saw the faces of survivors of Pearl Harbor––old weathered and wrinkled faces of men in their late eighties and nineties. There were photos of the young men they had been and there were a few stories of their war years that followed. To see those old warriors, to remember the battles they fought for our country, should make us all stop and give serious thought to what we have––and why we have it.
I have some yellowed sheets of newspaper showing our county's young men who had gone to war. Many are now retired business men – and many didn't come back.
Now we are still at war–-often a forgotten war for those on the home front but still a deadly one for those who serve. The 9/11 attack also stirred up a hornet's nest of outrage. But it soon got diluted by uncertainty, delayed action, and a general muddle of unclear goals.
On this 72nd anniversary of the events that changed the world, I hope our values and goals remain as strong as they were in 1941.
We mustn't forget.
Dannie
For the last hour since I read your blog I have been reflecting on what that "Day of Infamy" means to me. I was not born yet. I was born in the last months of the Pacific war. My father was one of those who did not come back. He was KIA in the Palau Islands a week before I was born. All I knew growing up, aside form personal tales of my mother and people I met who knew him as a brilliant, creative writer and actor with a keen sense of humor, is he was a hero and I was a "War Orphan". I was shocked when I was old enough to grasp that my mother had no love for FDR. Years later I realized there were many who held the same negative views ...that he knew of the pending attack and let it happen to create an economic environment to get us out of the "Great Depression",
ReplyDeleteFor years I thought my mother's views were a reflection of her feelings of personal loss. Decades later I give her more credibility mainly because of what I have lived through and learned with our current "Longest War" - as a people we were sold a bill of goods, outright lies, to get us in this war by and for the masterminds whose pockets were and are still being handsomely lined. Blood shed for lies. A whole new generation of "War Orphans".
Or am I so jaded because when I start to reflect on the War that changed the World all I really know about it is I do not know what it is to know and love and be loved by a father ...and the older I get the more poignant that loss becomes.
Seaneen, thank you for your comment on how this period affected you––and I sit here years later, thinking of your mother's grief and her feelings toward the political game playing. Very sad. Also sad for what you lost andy thousands more are still losing.
ReplyDeleteI was 14 and grew up in an independent household that did not take kindly to the FDR regulations that saturated my father's life. I have an old post that mentions his reactions. I think it was a Dec.2011 post. I have mentioned before that when I realized that I have lived in 13 presidential administrations, I became interested in reviewing the accomplishments and failures of each. My research was depressing! But interesting.
I appreciate so much that you shared. I wish more readers would.