– Lest We Forget –

Lest we forget.

I remember when I first heard about Pearl Harbor. I lived in a small town and had gone down town to the local hangout on Sunday afternoon, a particular drugstore with a soda fountain. There, the talk was…”have you heard, those stupid japs have bombed Pearl Harbor. It’l only take us not more than three months before we defeat them and will be hanging out in Tokyo”. Well…..almost four and a half years later….

I remember Pear Harbor every Dec 7. So many tragic stories, so many stories of heroism. I wonder if the war would have lasted as long as it did if all of our capital ships had been put to sea and planes dispersed. What if that telegraph message from one of the forward spotters had gotten in the right hands early that day. I also sometimes wonder if the U.S. as an isolationist country at the time would have gotten involved in Europe when it did. So many things might have been different that early Sunday morning…if only….

I’ve always remembered that ‘infamous’ day in history as a nightmare. The noter above made me think of so many ‘if only’s during our lifetime, but wondering doesn’t change anything now. Learning might..?

I was attending the movies when the lights came on and the announcement was made telling service men to report to their units. I went home and found my ma crying because she knew my brother, then 19, would be called into the armed services. I was only 13 then and young enough for my folks not to worry about me going. I do remember.

I haven’t seen that atrocity of a movie, because it seems like blatant sensationalism.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.