Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day
When I was in high school, dad asked me, “Did you hear about the Texan who had to take a memory-refresher course?” When I didn’t know about it, dad said, “That Texan couldn’t remember the Alamo.” We both laughed, and dad (a Texan) hollered the famous Texas battle-cry, “Remember the Alamo!”
In March of 1836, General Antonio López de Santa Anna led his Mexican Army of 2,000-4,000 soldiers (history is vague on the number) to put down a rebellion in San Antonio de Béxar (eventually shortened to San Antonio) in what was Northern Mexico. The common name of those living in Northern Mexico was “Texians” which probably meant “friends” or “friendly people.” But the people dropped the “i” and called themselves “Texans.” But they resisted the oppression of the Mexican Governor.
In 1835, about 350 soldiers and volunteers were butchered in Goliad. The next year, 200 soldiers, volunteers and citizens about 91 miles away in the Alamo mission near San Antonio were killed. Therefore, the battle cry during and after the war for Texas’ Independence was, “Remember Goliad, Remember the Alamo!” And the war for Texas independence was a pivotal point in American history.
But yesterday, Dec. 7, we commemorated a more recent pivotal point, Pearl Harbor!
On Dec. 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a dive bomber from the Japanese Imperial Navy flew unchallenged over the mountains on the island of Oahu. Then 360 Japanese warplanes, following closely behind, thundered over the mountains, descended on and attacked the U.S. naval base and the Army air base at Pearl Harbor. That catapulted the United States into World War II.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt then galvanized the U.S. Congress into action with his memorable speech which started with: “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.”
Part of our Pacific fleet was crippled. Included in the destruction were four battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers and several other ships and subs. Almost 200 planes were destroyed, about 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 wounded in that disaster. Interestingly, this attack was engineered to prevent the United States from entering the war, which would enable Japan to advance her imperialistic goals.
Instead, Japan’s surprise attack — prior to declaring war — propelled this mighty nation into action which sealed Japan’s doom because the U.S. aircraft carriers which Japan intended to sink at Pearl Harbor were not there. Admiral Chester Nimitz, also a Texan, had sent them elsewhere, and the aircraft from those ships destroyed the core of the Japanese Imperial Navy six months later in the Battle of Midway. My father was on the USS Yorktown in that battle. His 1999 book was updated and last month released under a new title, “Dead in the Water.”
Recently we seem to have forgotten about the attack on Pearl Harbor. No, we don’t hate the Japanese, but if we forget history, we’ll forget who we are and why our nation exists.
When I worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory — where our first atomic bombs were constructed — every year well-meaning people protested on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9. Those were the dates the U.S. dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We dropped them because Japan would not stop fighting. Evidently, Japan’s leaders were convinced that their gods wanted them to rule the world. It was “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” (the bombs) which helped them decide to end the war.
Those who protested against our dropping the bombs apparently couldn’t understand that those bombs wouldn’t have been dropped if Japan had not started the war with us. The protestors chose to ignore the aggressors who initiated the event, and instead blamed the victims. This is backwards.
Because we forgot about Pearl Harbor, the Alamo and Goliad, and particularly forgot the reason the European Pilgrims came to the new world in the first place (freedom of worship) we have opened the social and political doors for current oppression.
We must turn back to our roots for stability, or our nation will socially and politically capsize. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”
God is waiting for us to respond.