This is the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Imperial Japanese Navy made its attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, was aimed at the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy and its defending Army Air Corps and Marine air forces. The attack damaged or destroyed twelve U.S. warships, destroyed 188 aircraft, and killed 2,403 American servicemen and 68 civilians. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned the raid as the start of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, and it was commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, who lost 64 servicemen. However, the Pacific Fleet’s three aircraft carriers were not in port and so were undamaged, as were oil tank farms and machine shops. Using these resources the United States was able to rebound within six months to a year. The U.S. public saw the attack as a treacherous act and rallied strongly against the Japanese Empire, resulting in its later defeat.
Back in 2006, Kung Fu Monkey spoke to the bravery with which the Allies responded (and contrasted it to the fearful rhetoric associated with the War on Terror in 2006):
FDR: Oh, I’m sorry, was wiping out our entire Pacific fleet supposed to intimidate us? We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and right now we’re coming to kick your ass with brand new destroyers riveted by waitresses. How’s that going to feel?
CHURCHILL: Yeah, you keep bombing us. We’ll be in the pub, flipping you off. I’m slapping Rolls-Royce engines into untested flying coffins to knock you out of the skies, and then I’m sending angry Welshmen to burn your country from the Rhine to the Polish border.
U.S. NOW: BE AFRAID!! Oh God, the Brown Bad people could strike any moment! They could strike … NOW!! AHHHH. Okay, how about .. NOW!! AAGAGAHAHAHHAG! Quick, do whatever we tell you, and believe whatever we tell you, or YOU WILL BE KILLED BY BROWN PEOPLE!! PUT DOWN THAT SIPPY CUP!!
My title is taken from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. I had a poster with an image of a smoking flag over Pearl Harbor and the words, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” It was a very powerful image for me and, since then, I’ve associated Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg with the attack on Pearl Harbor.
We were fighting against Imperial Japan, a place where militaristic nationalists had taken control of the government and stoked notions of Japanese exceptionalism. The America fought for by the Americans 75 years ago stood for a country (in principal if not always in fact) governed by the consent of the governed where all men are created equal. The home of the brave.
We should always be mindful that, as Edward R. Murrow pointed out, “we are not descended from fearful men.” When our own militaristic nationalists come peddling fear and exceptionalism, we should strike them down just as we struck down Imperial Japan so that the dead of Pearl Harbor shall not have died in vain.
I wrote this on the 64th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
War leaves holes in the fabric of humanity, broken links in the Great Chain of Being. Fathers bury their sons and mothers sing the Death Songs. Yet still, war’s slakeless siren resounds in the ears and stirs in the hearts of tyrants. And the most venal in the land stand in their counting house doors and take off their hats as the funeral processions pass.
My family, historically, as farmers, were exempt from the drafts for the major wars. One great uncle of mine served in the Navy in WWII. But he was a musician and toured the Pacific Theater entertaining the troops. He made connections with many actors, comedians and musicians that advanced his career after the war. Still, he said that if another war comes, he would “farm like hell.”
My great great grandfather spent the holidays of 1862 as a prisoner of the confederates. He came home after the war, bought a farm which is still in our family, and had several children. But the war took a tremendous toll on his health and he died relatively young. The price of putting down traitors is a steep price.
We had a family friend whose fiancee was killed in WWII in 1944.
Somehow, I think I know what Christmas was like in 1941.