Pearl Harbor Day 2005

Today is December 7, 2005, the sixty-fourth anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on the U. S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. The next day, when he addressed Congress to ask for a declaration of war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said:

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounded determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”

And with that, World War II officially began for the United States.

What astounds me is that a scant sixty-four years later, with plenty of veterans still around–my friend J. D. Petruzzi’s father survived the attacks at Pearl Harbor as a very young sailor–there has been nary a word of the significance of this date on the news or in the media. Has this date really become so insignificant as to not warrant even a glimmer of attention?

Apparently, President Roosevelt was wrong. The day no longer does live in infamy. Our lives are so focused on the here and now that we have forgotten about the sacrifices made for us by what Tom Brokaw calls “the greatest generation.” My father is 85 years old, and is a member of that generation. That’s my nexus to it, and at 85, I’m not foolish enough not to realize that he won’t be with us too much longer.

2,388 American soldiers and sailors were killed that day, with nearly half of them on the U.S.S. Arizona alone. Another 1,178 were wounded in the Japanese attacks that day. It is certainly tragic and wrong that more than 2,000 Americans have died in Iraq in a war that we had no business starting. I don’t mean to downplay their sacrifices at all. At the same time, in more than three and a half years of war, our losses in Iraq are still less than they were in that single day at Pearl Harbor. We can’t have tunnel vision and simply forget about the generation that won World War II in order to pay tribute to the sacrifices of our honored dead in Iraq, even if they died fighting a war based on a lie. There is room for both.

If you see a World War II veteran, please take a moment and thank him or her for what they did for us. They deserve nothing less.