I was going to write a little piece on the attack on that long-ago day but then I read this piece over at the Old AF Sarge's blog, and the Old Sarge has said everything I would have said, but better.
I join him in asking all to remember those who died that day and those who died avenging them.
Don't forget.
Don't forget.
For those of you you have not had the privilege of visiting Pearl Harbor, there is usually a vet or two walking around, who was actually there during the attack. You have to think that it won't be long before there are none left.
ReplyDeleteMy last visit, there was this wonderful old guy who just started talking to me about his memory of that day. He started out by saying he was a mechanic and was under an officer's jeep, doing some repair when the first bombs exploded. In fear, he said he remained below the jeep, however, out of the door of the hanger, he could see his mates firing up in the air with their rifles. He said that he felt ashamed that he was so cowardly, so he grabbed a pistol that was inside the jeep, ran outside and started firing at the passing planes. At this point, the tears filled his eyes and he couldn't continue. It was only then that I realized the size of the crowd that had gathered behind me to listen to this hero. There must have been 100 people standing in awe of this gentleman. I often think about him and wonder if he is still alive.
Wow. Syd, I thank you for that story. Brought a tear to my eye reading that. I too wonder if the gentleman is still alive. But I will say this, that generation will live in my heart, forever.
DeleteDiploMad,
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate the link, kind Sir. I am humbled and honored.
Old Sarge
ReplyDeleteThank you for your service
Thank you. My father didn't talk about the war until a few years before he died. He flew Corsairs and TBMs off carriers plus stationed on a couple of South Pacific islands. When he landed on one island, he asked the Marine Sergeant where he was housing the prisoners. Dad said, the Sarge just looked him straight in the eye and said,"We don't take prisoners." Nuf said. He always felt a little guilty because he came home and so many of his friends never made it back to the ship.
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference between the Pearl Harbor coming-of-age crowd of my WWII veteran dad and mother's age and the present libtard 9/11 college educated/media's all-about-moral-equivalence age that so soon lost any sense of moral indignation and ability to idenitify evil.
ReplyDeleteI'll never vilify George Bush for not understanding clearly the moral definition of evil on that perfect innocent blue-skyed day in September.
Thanks, Old Sarge, for your basic decency and care for us.
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." -- George Orwell
Whilst we remember what happened on 7th Dec 1941 let's not forget another enemy who was responsible for more deaths on 11th Sept. This insidious enemy is all the more dangerous because he is inside your gate.
ReplyDeleteCicero, Marcus Tullius
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Diplomad?
ReplyDeleteHoping you're notified when comments (& links) drop in on older posts. An expat friend (ROK) from my boyhood hometown brought this to my attention. It's meant to be helpful.
http://www.fpri.org/articles/2012/12/crisis-american-conservatism-inherent-contradictions-and-end-road
The author is James Kurth and the essay is probably on Foreign Policy Research Institute's site if copying and pasting to a search engine doesn't bring it up.
You've a superb site Sir.
Arkie