This column originally posted on December 7, 2011
(The New Pearl Harbor Museum Opened on 12-7-2010)
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the empire of Japan."
With that statement describing the attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, this nation was thrust into World War II. The first wave of Japanese aircraft attacked at 7:53 a.m. and by the end of the second wave at 9:45 a.m., the U.S. had suffered casualties of 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians, while 1,178 were wounded.
Of the dead, 1,177 were men stationed on the USS Arizona, which was destroyed when a bomb hit the forward magazine, starting a series of explosions. Eight Arizona residents were listed among the dead on the battleship, which was moored near Ford Island on that dreadful morning 65 years ago.
Today the remains of the Arizona still lie in the same shallow water where she sat helpless during the attack. In 1962, the ship was declared a national shrine and a memorial was built across her remains. A room within the shrine lists the names of the dead crew members, and regular memorial services are performed to respect their memory. A new U.S. flag is raised each day above the site, and at the end of the day is folded and given to various dignitaries.
Time has taken its toll on the memorial and in September, 2005, Governor Janet Napolitano toured the site and pledged Arizona’s help in raising $34 million to build a new visitors’s center. ("Napolitano to help raise $34 million for USS Arizona," The Arizona Republic, Oct. 20, 2005).
"It’s Arizona’s battleship," she said in the article. "When it was commissioned (1916), they broke not just a bottle of champagne over its bow, but a bottle of water that had just come from the newly created Roosevelt Dam. We’ve always had a close connection with the USS Arizona."
Napolitano also declared 2006 as the "Year of the USS Arizona Memorial."
Many of the dead from the Arizona are still entombed within its hulk. Oil still seeps from the wreckage after 65 years and is sometimes referred to as "the tears of the Arizona." Each year the number of survivors decreases and many of them have made arrangements to be cremated with their ashes placed by their fallen shipmates at the site. Many of these men believe that the oil will continue to leak until the last survivor dies
4 comments:
Funny: I just downloaded an image to post on Facebook tomorrow saying "Never forget."
I had a little section in my last novel about this; I did research into the attack and the immediate aftermath:
“Yesterday, Dec. 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.”
Danziger had sat quietly in his den listening to the speech that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave to the Joint Session of Congress at 12:30 PM on the day after the Japanese initiated a sneak attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The speech lasted seven short minutes, but made it very clear to the people of the United States that they would momentarily be at war. Roosevelt ended his speech with a definitive demand: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.” Thirty-three minutes after the speech ended, Congress voted nearly unanimously to declare that war: one Congresswoman, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against the war. She told her fellow representatives and the press that, “As a woman I can't go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.” Some supporters thought her stand courageous; Danziger, like most, thought her an idiot and wished she had been on the Arizona when it was sent to its watery grave.
Three days later Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind, and for days afterwards the declares-war-on dominoes fell like, well, dominoes. Hungary and Romania declared war on the United States; British India declared war on the Empire of Japan; and the Independent State of Croatia declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany and a half dozen of its allies had already declared war on the Soviet Union. On December 26th Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of Congress. He spoke of a long, hard war, but unequivocally stated that, “Sure I am that this day, now, we are the masters of our fate. That the task which has been set us is not above our strength. That its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause, and an unconquerable willpower, salvation will not be denied us. In the words of the Psalmist: ‘He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’”
Thew warriors in the fight and on the home front truly were "the Greatest generation." Bless them all.
Thanks, Glo. You have a great talent in your writing. It's a quality that is inborn; you are lucky.
Thanks for the post.
Hi Jim,
In late 1989 Deb won an all expenses trip for a week in Honolulu. We went in Feb of 1990 because of the NFL Pro Bowl. As we planned the trip the first place we wanted to go was Pearl Harbor. As an Arizona native I wanted to see the USS Arizona memorial.
It's quite a sobering experience reading all the names that were killed in the attack.
Hey Jimmy! Great blog, as usual.
When Dora and I first moved to the Missouri county in which I have remained, I rented a home from a Pearl Harbor veteran and he was on shore that morning. Jim Wallis gave me the 'father-son' talk when I drove him to the hospital with his last heart attack.
Jen's grandfather, the one that I talk about knowing was an editor. Her paternal grandfather who passed before I moved to the Ozarks was a Flying Tiger before WW II against the Japanese. According to the History Channel, the Flying Tigers were assembled and prepared in Burma when Pearl Harbor happened. Their first attack on the Japanese was a complete surprise and was devastating! Payback for Dec. 7. The awakening of a sleeping giant.
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