Pearl Harbor Anniversary

USS Arizona - Pearl Harbor

What Really Happened? History. President Roosevelt's speech, declaration of war. Previous Articles re: Pearl Harbor: Today in History The Gonzman Today in History2004-12-07 at 6:05 am · This is the 63rd Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For those of you who respect and revere our soldiers, you do not need me to tell you what to do. For those who do not, I won’t waste my breath.As usual, this past August, there was much angst and whining about the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So be it. Know this, you twits - If there had been no Pearl Harbor, there would have been no Hiroshima or Nagasaki. NOTE THIS, you history revisionists who moan and piss about what the mean ole United States did to the poor widdle Japanese! Doug Powers Pearl Harbor: Retrieving Lost Lessons of the Greatest Generation2006-12-07 at 8:18 am ·An entire generation is about to pass — a generation that knows sacrifice; a generation that has confronted and defeated terror; a generation that has beaten back tyranny; a generation from whom we should have taken copious notes. Some of us did take note, but many of us didn’t, and the rest refuse to participate either way. Today is the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the rest of America. As the dwindling number of survivors gathered, perhaps for the final time before age takes its toll, we find ourselves at a similar crossroads. For many people, Pearl Harbor exists only in a movie – a film that taught the unaware that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in order to get Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett to stop banging Kate Beckinsale with irresponsible abandon. The reason it’s important that the real lesson of Pearl Harbor be passed down through succeedinggenerations encompasses more than Pearl Harbor itself. It’s about victory in the face of daunting challenges and unflinching decision-making despite comparatively ugly choices. When you reflect on Pearl Harbor, what’s the first thing you think of? Chances are, “losing” wasn’t among your first thoughts. Though the attack was a temporary and overwhelming victory for the Japanese empire, the ultimate lesson is that tyranny was put down in the course of the years following the attack. When we think of Pearl Harbor, we should think “victory,” not “defeat.” Then vs. now Fast-forward the tape to 2006. Remember how you felt on 9/11/01? Much the same as Americans felt when they heard the news from Hawaii 65 years ago today. The enemy has changed and isn’t as definable as being able to point at one nation and yell “they did it,” but the ultimate goal should be the same: Victory. The problem is that Victory in those years meant something quite different than it does today. Today, Victory means establishing hegemony over the oil rich nations, starting with Iraq, and setting in place a puppet government designed to cooperate with the US. After the Japanese launched the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is reported to have said, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” I fear that American politicians today are filling that giant, which was temporarily re-awakened on 9/11, not with resolve, but with Sominex. For many, victory isn’t the goal. If The Greatest Generation, as Tom Brokaw dubbed them (click here for some debate on the Brokaw label), would have hemmed and hawed like some of our politicians are doing today in the years immediately following 1941, what would have happened? If America in 1941 had the Congressional class of 2006 and 2007, the only item to remain open to speculation is if we’d be speaking German or Japanese. When our children, their children, and their children, are sitting around on the 65th anniversary of 9/11, will that date remind them of victory, or defeat? Primarily shame.Will America as we know it even exist? Probably NOT!Will our children, their children, and their children even be alive? Not if the idiot leaders succeed in starting a nuclear holocaust. If pondering those questions gives you a moment of unsure pause, then you’ve already answered them. We should be very concerned about the course that is being set by our politicians and those for whom American defeat and resignation is the only way to ensure a “fair” world. At Pearl Harbor anniversary, U.S. hails response to attack COMMENTS: The Future Was Yesterday said... "Know this, you twits - If there had been no Pearl Harbor, there would have been no Hiroshima or Nagasaki. " A voice of reason about that tragic day is so seldom heard anymore. My ship was home ported in Pearl Harbor. I got to see history every time we went in and out of the harbor, in the form of the USS Arizona, forever lying on the bottom. Thank you for remembering!! Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:25:00 AM WA: I remember the awful day that the news came over the radio, the wailing of the family women folk and the somber faces of the family men. I remember everyone huddled around the radio when President Roosevelt addressed the nation. I remember the news shorts at the movie theater before the feature films, seeing the terrible carnage at Pearl. I remember my young uncles and older cousins in their uniforms, going off to war. I remember the death notice of a happy-go-lucky cousin on some god forsaken Pacific island . I remember his funeral rites at our little country Baptist church and the funeral rites of our neighbors' sons, the grief and pain. Yes I remember all too well and time has not eased the feelings of those times. I remember, I remember and it enrages me to hear/read the asinine history revisionists pule and wail about how bad the US was to use atomic bombs on Japan. The horror of an atomic attack on the populace was terrible indeed. So were the horrors of combat and deaths of our military men, allies, and civilians stranded on those islands as the battles were gradually won, slogging inch by inch to victory only to face another island and another and another. How many more would have been mutilated and killed in warfare and POW camps had America been forced to continue, had been forced to force the Japanese to surrender. Modern people cannot image the absolute fanaticism of the Japenese military and even civilians of that era. You are damned right I remember. Just as folks remember 9-11 today. And will they conveniently forget those feelings when the time comes that the U.S. is all buddy-buddy with the Arabs we now war against, as we now buddy up to Japan? Some whine that more were killed at 9/11 than at Pearl Harbor, as if the number of deaths was some sort of ain't- it-awful, our- tragedy- was -greater -than -your -tragedy contest! ONE death was one too many in either case. Just for the record, check out these stats: "There were 2,974 fatalities, excluding the 19 hijackers: 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,603 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.[38][39] An additional 24 people remain listed as missing". The resultant wars have killed over 4,000 American troops. "The 2-hour Japanese attack [...] killed 2,290 military personnel at bases throughout Hawaii, along with 48 civilians".The resultant wars in the Pacific Theatre against the Japanese= "USA: 106,207 killed, 248,316 wounded and missing". USA stats only, does not include Allied stats. [Does not include all casualties from WWII. The USA and Allies were also embroiled in war against Germany and the Axis in the European Theatre and the African Campaign.] So you revisionists or "braggarts" about how 9/11 was worse than Pearl Harbor, just back down. I wept in horror at 9/11 right along with other Americans. I lived through that attack on my country, my people. And this old woman lived through the earlier attack on my country, my people. I am here to tell you it ALL was terrible; Pearl and the following war was much greater - so far, god forbid it grow worse!