Remembering Pearl Harbor, 2012

Posted Wed Dec 7, 2011 in

It’s December 7, Pearl Harbor Day… “A day that will live in infamy.” Seventy-years ago, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack that caught America off-guard.

Most of the men and women who were there are now gone; only a few remain. The first-hand recollection of those who were there will soon disappear. We will lose touch with what happened and the people it happened too.

I was on Oahu many years ago. I didn’t get to the Arizona Memorial, but I did visit the Submariner’s Memorial. It was a solemn place, even amid the children playing on the grass. I remember reading the names of the men who died in service of their country. The sense of history was nearly overwhelming, punctuated by the laughter of the children playing in the background. The contrast struck me at the time.

It was good to see the place, to think about what happened, to remember. It is good to remember this day and the men and women who sacrificed then and in the response to come. I remember.