Wednesday, December 07, 2016

RECALLING 1941



In memoriam ...  all those whose lives were sacrificed December 7th and after


Commemorating the forever altered lives of so many.…so our families could survive in a continuing free nation.

…some of us recall the day
…some of us recall our parents describing the day
…some of us recall a school history book account of the day

…war’s horrors had once more been set in motion         

December 7th gives me pause each year to remember…..that Sunday morning in 1941…..

Mother and I learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor while attending our regular weekly church service.    We had arisen that Sunday morning as usual, dressed, ate our breakfast, caught the city bus near our house to ride down town, then walk the few blocks to our church while my high school age brother slept at home.   He had taken a job in a supermarket meat department, working until early Sunday morning hours beginning months earlier.   Mother didn’t expect him to attend church, knowing he needed the rest.   
  
She remembered WWI – the sacrifices affecting family and friends when she was a young single woman.  She had learned then of war’s horrors so knew what another war, possibly on our shores, could mean.    She was now the mother of a son who could be called to fight.
 
I would begin to learn what war meant in the months to come.    
   
The ensuing WWII impacted all our lives in multiple ways.   Following high school graduation, because that was the earliest our Mother would  sign for him to enlist,  my brother finally joined the U.S. Navy where he served in the Pacific Theater – thankfully uninjured when he mustered out at war’s end.  

Years after WWII ended he lived on Hawaii's Oahu.    Circumstances were such I was with him on an occasion to await the arrival of a young non-military loved one returning from summer employment on Eniwetok -- a Pacific coral atoll – site of a WWII battle – years later the site of the first U.S.  H-Bomb test.   

Standing on the landing area at Hickam Air Base which had been so viciously strafed – where our Air Force had experienced so much loss that Sunday morning in 1941 – I was acutely aware those many years later of my surroundings tragic history.    I also was reminded watching the handsome young man deplaning that he would not have been present had his father not survived his WWII Pacific arena military service.   I thought then, and each December 7th, about how many others were not so fortunate.  

The veterans who survived the 1941 attack have dwindled in number just as have all WWII veterans, including my brother where he lived his last years on the Big Island of Hawaii.   We honor those lives specifically lost on that fateful December 7th.     We must not forget those individuals, the lessons of that day, or that war ­-­- World War II. 

We want to continue to honor all those who contributed to our countries survival as a nation. 

How many people realize that had our country and our Allies in other countries not prevailed in WWII that the USA would not exist as the democratic republic in which we’ve been privileged to live?    

The greatest tribute we can offer those who have given so much is to insure our system of government is preserved.

13 comments:

  1. My generation did not learn of Pearl Harbor except through history. We are soft in that only 1% of population is involved in the military. We are blind to the true sacrifice and tragedy tht others face.

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    1. Yes, the military service enlistees today are all a small voluntary segment of our citizens, whereas a draft affected all males in a certain age range during WWII. A feeling of patriotism permeated our whole nation, unifying military personnel and civilians, adults and children -- all immersed in the war.

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  2. A fine tribute. When I encounter one of the dwindling number of WWII vets (many here wear caps, so you know) I've started making a point of asking about their service and letting them know they are appreciated. They really were part of "the greatest generation."

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    1. That's a wonderful gesture, Dick. I, too, began making a point of thanking the WWII vets when I've encountered them as I often did in my profession. They frequently were surprised but appreciative someone remembered and paid attention.

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  3. I live less than a mile from Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, where there will be a big ceremony today.

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    1. That 75th anniversary ceremony is being featured in our Los Angeles TV news shows along with some of those veterans now in their nineties and over a hundred.

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  4. Lest we forget. Today, David told a young woman behind the counter at our bakery that he remembered where he was on 12/7/41. She looked at him blankly and said, " I don't think I was born then."

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  5. I was two years old when Pearl Harbor happened. So few are left, now, who remember the shock of that day.

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  6. Agree, agree, agree. As dark as things look today for those who love the progress we've made since WWII, the Depression and War years were worse.

    David remembers his dad calling him to tell him to turn on the radio. He was too young to go, but his older brother served inEurope where he was taken by prisoner as a spy by Russians as he spoke Russian (his mother was Russian). Paul was looking for grandparents who disappeared during this time. Nazis or Communists, they never knew.

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  7. Perhaps his grandparents were neither, but simply became innocent victims persecuted for less discriminating reasons -- simply expressing a contrary opinion -- which some autocratic dictatorial-type inclined leaders cannot tolerate and will squelch by all means possible. I would not want such a person leading our government.

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  8. My kinship with World War II was a rather strange one. I was alive during the entire war yet remember nothing at all about the war. I was born 37 days before Pearl Harbor and on September 2, 1945, the official end of the war, I was just at two months away from being 4 years old. My memories of those early years of 1940 only began to register when I was around 6 years old. My uncle was the only one still in the military at that time and he had flown B-25's in the Pacific Theater. I really didn't understand it all but my uncle was my Super Hero during those times. I didn't understand what he had done but I knew it must have been a grand thing.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your experience. At your young age during WWII years the event likely wouldn't have made much of an impression, plus your family might have avoided exposing you to concerns they had at the time, particularly for your uncle.

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