70 Years After Pearl Harbor (Rare Color Video of the Attack)
Seventy years have passed since the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. December 7, 1941 was, as President Roosevelt described it, a date that will live in infamy.
Seventy years. A lifetime ago.
The ship still sits on the bottom of the channel there, sunk by Japanese bombs all those years ago. The bones of most of its dead are still inside the ship.
I recently saw a television show that showed a submersible robot sent into the wreck to film inside the ship. There was a closet with its door open, and inside hung three or four Navy officer's jackets, still on their hangers. They looked imminently wearable. Strange that they had survived the conflagration and seven decades under water.
God bless the men and women who died in the attack, both military and civilian. May we never forget.
Yesterday, in my homeschool middle school classes, I asked the students and the parents present, "What is the significance of December 7?"
ReplyDeleteOnly a scant few parents knew, and none of the students knew.
In fact, several students had no idea whatsoever that Pearl Harbor had ever been bombed -- much less the connection with the United States involvement in WW2. I nearly had an apoplectic fit!
As I think back, I KNOW that I recognized the significance of the date by the time I was 8 years old. Of course, at that time, we had several WW2 veterans in our family (none were at Pearl Harbor). But I also recall that we learned about the Pearl Harbor attack very early in school.
AOW, I was about 7 or 8 when I first knew about it too. It's amazing how little kids know about their history these days. Makes you wonder if public schools are filtering or suppressing history. ("He who controls the past, controls the future" - From "1984.")
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that kids today have less knowledge of US History... but I recall getting a lot of information from my parents.... not just school. My Dad was a Marine between WW II and the Korean War... eventually being called back for the Korean War. So, there were a lot of military stories discussed in our household.
ReplyDeletePearl Harbor is 70 years ago..... I am not sure how much knowledge of the first World War that I had when I was a kid. And that was in the range of 70 years prior.
Stogie I am not sure of your age.... but I'm assuming you were born in the 50's ? You grew up in a time when the War was fresh on the minds of everyone.
I also think there is so much more information for kids to focus on. It's information overload. And History is not exciting to most.... that's something that's been true for a long time. For those of us that are interested in the past, we might be more sensitive to the perceived lack of knowledge of the younger generation.
So, much of our knowledge is referenced. I dated a girl from Japan for a while... and the most difficult part was the lack of similar references. I grew up in a time where we did monthly nuclear bomb drills in grammar school. We got under the desk... as if that would protect us in the case of a real incident. But if I talked about that to her or a younger person today they would have a blank stare. But if I brought it up to a person my similar age... we could have a good laugh about it.
Great stories, PJM. I was actually born in the tail end of World War II and my father served in the US Army Air Corps. I'm a geezer! Yes, my family too had a lot of actual connection to that war and I probably learned more from family than I did from school.
ReplyDeleteI also remember those naive "duck and cover" air raid drills!