Today marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the United States Pacific Fleet center at Pearl Harbor Hawai’i was attacked by air in a series of sneak attacks on its Naval and Army bases. Launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers, the air attacks began at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Ships and facilities were bombed and over 2400 military personnel were killed in the attack, including 1177 on the battleship U.S. Arizona. Four U.S. battleships were sunk, four others were seriously damaged. In all, 12 ships were sunk and over 188 aircraft were destroyed. Later that day, US facilities in the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, and other South Pacific locations were also attacked.
Historians believe the Japanese plan to destroy a great portion of the U.S. Pacific fleet was intended to keep the U.S. from becoming involved in Japan’s plans to take military action against the Philippines and other parts of Indochina. Rather than deterring the U.S., the attacks of Pearl Harbor precipitated U.S. entry into the war, and essentially, escalated the onset of World War II. Within 24 hours of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. declared war on Japan, leading to the escalation of World War II. On December 8, 1941, after the U.S. Congress declared war, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his speech to Congress, stated that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was “ a date which will live in infamy”. Within a short time, Germany also declared war on the United States, and “Remember Pearl Harbor” became a rallying cry throughout the country and throughout the war itself.
I was born at the end of World War II, but I remember Pearl Harbor because it was the defining moment of my parents’ lives. My father, William Cannon and his brother, Jack, enlisted in the U.S. Marines, and both served in some of the bloodiest battles in the South Pacific. Throughout my childhood, we heard about WWII, watched “Victory at Sea,” and heard our parents’ stories of where they were on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. My parents had not yet met and married on Dec. 7, 1941. My mother was in the French American hospital in Los Angeles, and my father was in Portland, Oregon.
The war would bring them together, and would define, to great extent, both of their lives, their outlook, and their deep sense of patriotism and love for their country. The war also left deep scars, especially on my father, and would be a subject we would discuss for the entirety of his lifetime. Until his death, his experiences in war shaped him and his life. When my father passed away on May 8, 2000, we held a memorial for him where he is buried in Willamette National Cemetery. A few years later, we laid to rest my uncle nearby in the same cemetery. By that time, the graves of other generations who had died fighting other wars, were filling in the spaces around where the World War II veterans graves were becoming more numerous.
Each generation has its defining moments, events that mark and characterize in remarkable and stunning ways, the worldview, outlook, and character of each generation. For my generation, that might have been the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963. For other generations, including my own, the events of September 11, 2001 have changed who we are, forever marking us with wounds that will take a long time to heal. My husband’s country is forever marked and defined by the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on August 3/4, 1990. My friend Mary, and her fellow New Zealanders, are marked by the two devastating earthquakes they suffered over the last year. I could go on, for we humans are always defined, in part, to the events that happen to us. We are also defined by the way we respond to those events.
In the case of “the day that lives in infamy”, Pearl Harbor remains on our collective consciousness as a turning point, a grievous memory, and a day when we honor those who have sacrificed their lives.
We may look back at the days of 1941 as times far removed from who we are now. However, each of us comes from some thing that was living and defined at that time. Our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents--all of whom we tend to think of as “older,” “unlike us,” or “the past,” were on that day, young and hopeful and perhaps, naive, but then so too have we been. Perhaps we would do well to remember that it is not the old ones who fight the wars; it is the young, the hopeful, the ones with their whole lives ahead of them who go to war, and who sacrifice their lives, their health, their sanity, and their future for what they consider a noble and honorable cause. Whether or not we like war (does anyone like war?), we have an obligation to honor those who have put their lives on the line in hopes of protecting our lives, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.
Today my heart and mind are flooded with memories, gratitude, and respect for my own father, and for all those who served in World War II, all those who lived through those difficult times, and all those whose sacrifices gave those of us who cannot understand or appreciate what it took to live through a world war. I am not writing this to glorify war, but to honor those who give glory to the life we live through their service and sacrifices. Especially for those of us who might not know, remember, or some who may not have even heard of Pearl Harbor Day, it is a day that should be remembered in infamy, as something we want never to happen again to anyone, anywhere. Let the sacrifices of those who lost their lives on Pearl Harbor Day, and on all the days that resulted from those attacks, be honored and remembered today.
Today on the floor of the U.S. Senate, witness to the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Senator Daniel Inouye recalled as he was getting ready to go to church on a Sunday morning, and being interrupted by the . Running outdoors, he saw the black smoke rising screams of the radio announcer listening to the screams coming from the radio on seeing black puffs from explosions and the rumblings. He thought the world was coming to an end. He says of that day, “it began a period of my life as an adult and I hope, a good American...it was a day that changed my life forever.”
It is good to remember what helps make us who we are. We never know what will happen; we can only hope we will allow the terrible events of our lives to bring out the best in us. Remember Pearl Harbor. As we are welcoming home other veterans of wars, let us share some compassion for those who serve and sacrifice. As grandparents and parents, it is our obligation to pass on the stories, memories, and reflections of the past. Let us honor the past by reflecting on the lessons we have learned from the history we share. Only through sharing our memories and working to heal the woundedness, can we create peace in the future generations.
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