Remember Pearl Harbor! December 7, 1941

In the minds of older Americans December 7, 1941 is as powerful as September 11, 2001 to most Americans today. Although I wasn’t alive in 1941, it grew to be significant because of what it meant to my parents and how it determined the direction of their lives. It remained so until the Vietnam War.

A generation has passed, and now, most Americans today were not even alive when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. It is an event we need to remember, because our parents and grandparents where a part of it and there is a lesson in it. It is important because we have seen events that were similar to it. It was, in effect, a call to arms for Americans to enter World War II. Like the terrorists attacks on American ships, airplanes, military bases and embassies that preceded the attack on the World Trade Center, people could see what was coming. They tried to dismiss it. They didn't want war, but it came anyway. Sometimes it takes a moment for everything to become clear, to come to grips with what needs to be done. And so you do. And we remember it today.

Seventy years ago, my mother had just celebrated her 15th birthday two weeks earlier. The attack began just before 8 in the morning in Hawaii. Had she heard about the attack at the instant it occurred it would have been early afternoon. For her a few minutes before 1 pm. The attack took place over 2 and a-half hours. By eleven the Japanese had finished their attack and were heading home. By the time my mother heard about the bombing of our fleet and air stations in Hawaii it was a late Sunday afternoon. She was at a Christmas program rehearsal. The rehearsal went on though their hearts weren’t in it.

When my parents spoke of Hawaii, their mind-set of Hawaii was not of a state, but as the Territory of Hawaii. Hawaii would not become a state until August 21, 1959. Alaska had just become a state on January 3, 1959. The flag we had long saluted in school was being changed to accommodate yet another state and would begin to refer to the familiar 48 states as the “Continental” US. It seems strange now to think in those terms.

At the time of the attack, my father was 18 working different jobs and eventually in a steel mill. He enlisted in the United States Navy 9 months after the attack. He went to boot camp and aviator radioman school and then to Hawaii. He spent a considerable amount of time in TH (the Territory of Hawaii). He was stationed on both the islands of Oahu and Maui. He saw the Arizona and the other ships in the harbor before they became part of a memorial.

Included as part of this entry are photos of World War II era Japanese dive bombers (Dayton Air Show), a relief map of Pearl Harbor, the Arizona Memorial and an American B-17 Flying Fortress. The B-17 is in the United State Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

I encourage you to google “Pearl Harbor” and review the details of the attack. You will find additional maps, photos, timelines and other accounts. Let me know why the B-17 Flying Fortresses were of significance to the story of Pearl Harbor on that particular day.

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 10.3 - Though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does.

Ephesians 6.12 - Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Put on the armor of God: truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith and prayer.

Romans 13.14 - Clothe and arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.