Lessons of Pearl Harbor still ring true, are well worth remembering

[wilheim]

No matter what else ever happens on Dec. 7, it will always be remembered as the ".date which will live in infamy," as memorialized by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his Dec. 8, 1941, address to the nation.

On this date 63 years ago, Japanese planes launched from aircraft carriers 270 miles off Oahu smashed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. In a time span of barely two hours, more than 2,400 soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians were dead. Nearly 200 American planes were destroyed, and the eight battleships that comprised the heart of the Pacific fleet were destroyed or damaged.

Japan's hope was that the U.S., a nation it considered decadent and soft, would sue for peace and leave Japan to follow its plans of expansion in the Pacific. Instead, the next four years saw the U.S. unite, mobilize and become a superpower, proving Japanese Adm. Yamamoto's Dec. 7 prediction, "I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve," correct.

As our history continues to unfold, we've accumulated other "infamous" dates, but today is the day to remember the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, for the dead, the dwindling number of survivors and the way the country rallied together and changed the shape of the world.




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[KLeaneR]

Nice little read, Thank you. :think1:

 

[TheGeneral+]

Welcome to TheRx.com Kleaner.

Thanks Wil

We should all take a moment to remember this day and reflect on what it did to our country.

 

[ChuckSims]

What's sickening is that Rosevelt knew the Japs were going to attack and did nothing to stop it. The USA had broken the Jap code 6 months prior to the attack. His motive was to get the USA into war to stop Hitler. It may have been for the best but it still stinks.

 

[5teamparlay]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/12/06/2840714/day-of-infamy-changed-us-forever.html
(The original version of this editorial was first published Dec. 7, 1997.)


Seventy-two years ago today, Americans awoke to a Sunday that probably began pretty much the way most other Sundays begin. People got up and made coffee, fixed breakfast, got ready for church, or maybe just rolled over to catch that extra couple of hours' shuteye on their day off.


By the time that day ended, their lives, their nation and their world had changed forever.


December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy,'' as President Franklin D. Roosevelt dubbed it, is also a date which lives forever in the memories of all those old enough to remember it. It is the "What were you doing when …?'' date for one generation, as Nov. 22, 1963, is for the next, and Sept. 11, 2001, will always be for this one.


By the time that day ended, a 33-ship Japanese strike force under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had traveled in darkness to within 200 miles of Hawaii and launched some 360 airplanes in an early morning attack on the United States' Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, west of Honolulu. Long before the sun set on Dec. 7, 1941, 21 American ships and more than 300 American airplanes would be destroyed, and U.S. casualties would number over 3,700.


Before that day, U.S. participation in a war that already had raged in Europe for two years was limited to equipping nations allied against the Axis powers with planes, ships, tanks and ammunition. Roosevelt, calling on Americans to become "the arsenal of democracy,'' had successfully appealed to Congress to rescind neutrality laws that forbade such sales, and with war-ravaged Britain virtually bankrupt by 1940 the president proposed the Lend-Lease Act.


By the time that day ended, we were sideline participants no longer. Pearl Harbor awakened the "sleeping giant'' of American military might and moral outrage, and transformed democracy's "arsenal'' into its most efficient and essential strike force.


By the time that war ended, it would have claimed uncounted millions of lives (military deaths alone probably topped 17 million, civilian deaths incalculably higher), radically redrawn the maps of Europe and Asia, given rise to the Soviet Union and the Cold War and, in one blinding, white-hot flash on Aug. 6, 1945, ushered the world into the nuclear age.


By the time that day ended, the Great Depression that tested American endurance, courage and ingenuity for more than a decade would be yesterday's news, pushed into the inside pages by the more immediate threat of mortal combat on the ground, in the air and on the seas, and by the uncertainty of the nation's very survival.


By the time that day ended, events would have been set in motion that would see Americans die at Anzio and on the beaches of France; in steamy, mosquito-infested South Pacific jungles and in the freezing Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg; in fiery air battles and shark-infested seas.


Seventy-two years ago, America awoke to what would be one of her darkest moments. Four years, hundreds of thousands of American lives and countless acts of valor and self-sacrifice later, she stood on the brink of her brightest.


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Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013...-infamy-changed-us-forever.html#storylink=cpy

 

[LoCalDallasGuy]

:toast:

 

[WVJOE]

Nice Read. Thank you!

 

[5teamparlay]

From DJT

[FONT=&quot]On the morning of December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese forces ambushed the Naval Station Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Tragically, 2,403 Americans perished during the attack, including 68 civilians. On this National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we solemnly honor and uphold the memory of the patriots who lost their lives that day — “a date which will live in infamy” — and we reflect on the courage of all those who served our Nation with honor in the Second World War.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Seventy nine years ago, Imperial Japan launched an unprovoked and devastating attack on our Nation. As torpedo bombers unleashed their deadly cargo on our ships and attack aircraft rained bombs from above, brave members of the United States Navy, Marines, Army, and Army Air Forces mounted a heroic defense, manning their battle stations and returning fire through the smoke and chaos. The profound bravery in the American resistance surprised Japanese aircrews and inspired selfless sacrifice among our service members. In one instance, Machinist’s Mate First Class Robert R. Scott, among 15 Sailors awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of valor on that day, refused to leave his flooding battle station within the depths of the USS CALIFORNIA, declaring to the world: “This is my station and I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Forever enshrined in our history, the attack on Pearl Harbor shocked all Americans and galvanized our Nation to fight and defeat the Axis powers of Japan, Germany, and Italy. As Americans, we promise never to forget our fallen compatriots who fought so valiantly during World War II. As a testament to their memory, more than a million people visit the site of the USS ARIZONA Memorial each year to pay their respects to the Sailors entombed within its wreckage and to all who perished that day. Despite facing tremendous adversity, the Pacific Fleet, whose homeport remains at Pearl Harbor to this day, is stronger than ever before, upholding the legacy of all those who gave their lives nearly 80 years ago.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On this National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we recall the phrase “Remember Pearl Harbor,” which stirred the fighting spirit within the hearts of the more than 16 million Americans who courageously served in World War II. Over 400,000 gave their lives in the global conflict that began, for our Nation, on that fateful Sunday morning. Today, we memorialize all those lost on December 7, 1941, declare once again that our Nation will never forget these valiant heroes, and resolve as firmly as ever that their memory and spirit will survive for as long as our Nation endures.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2020, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I encourage all Americans to observe this solemn day of remembrance and to honor our military, past and present, with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I urge all Federal agencies and interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.[/FONT]

 

[michael777]

Wil, he was/is another well known radical Leftist

 

[VIEJODINOSAUR]

Wil, he was/is another well known radical Leftist

He did serve his country honorably....what’s your point?

 

[Dr.Love]

He did serve his country honorably....what’s your point?

Many pieces of shit served our country. See Timothy McVeigh as a prime example.

What's your point?

 

[VIEJODINOSAUR]

Many pieces of shit served our country. See Timothy McVeigh as a prime example.

What's your point?

micheal777 comparing Wil to a radical leftist....

 

[Dr.Love]

micheal777 comparing Wil to a radical leftist....

Just because Wil served, doesn't mean he isn't... That's my point.

 

[VIEJODINOSAUR]

Just because Wil served, doesn't mean he isn't... That's my point.

I knew Wil very well when I lived in Costa Rica...he wasn’t a radical loon....

 

[Willie99]

Life is not all about politics, good and smart people can and do disagree

 

[Dr.Love]

I knew Wil very well when I lived in Costa Rica...he wasn’t a radical loon....

That's fine. Was just pointing out that your point really didn't mean much. Just because someone served, doesn't automatically mean they are this or they aren't that.

You could have just said you knew the guy and he wasn't radical. That would have given it far more credence.

 

[Dr.Love]

Life is not all about politics, good and smart people can and do disagree

So many people are absolutely consumed right now. It's not healthy.

I mean, I enjoy political discussions when they are with bright people who are open to listening and the exchange of ideas. But a lot of people around here seem like its non stop political banter every day. That can't be healthy.

 

[DogDaze]

Life is not all about politics, good and smart people can and do disagree

Exactly.