A Nation Remembers Pearl Harbor

by Candace Salima, News Corner USA Editorial
Originally posted on 8 December 2012

On December 7 of 1941 the United States of America was attacked, without provocation, by the Empire of Japan. Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a shocked and grieving nation:

This attack brought America fully into a World War they'd desperately tried to stay out of, and we were drawn into the battle on two fronts. In the South Pacific, Japan made its move on the United States of America. It was their very mistaken belief that if they could draw America into the war, we would give up the Hawaiian Islands as being too costly and step back while they continued their march on island after island.

"The [American military] base on [Oahu] was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of these eight damaged, two were raised, and with four repaired, six battleships returned to service later in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded." Source

Until September 11 of 2001, this day in American history lived as the most horrific attack on America. Thousands of our soldiers died; and instead of surrendering Hawaii, because America doesn't surrender, we were drawn into the war on two fronts: the Pacific theater and the European theater. Before World War II was over, 400,000 Americans had given their lives to keep the world free.

While my expertise is in the European theater of that war, I know that the war fought by our soldiers in the Pacific was horrifying on all levels. Americans, especially our Greatest Generation, fought for God, family and country. The price they paid for our freedom was beyond measure or understanding by Americans today.

In speaking with a veteran of that war, his voice trembling while tears choked his throat, he addressed the current affairs of our nation, "This is not the America I was wounded for; this is not the America my friends died for." And he's right. When they fought the Japanese, the malaria, the starvation, the shortage of weaponry and ammunition, and the unfettered viciousness of the Japanese in the P.O.W. camps, so many died and died horribly. And that horror began at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii early that December morning. But the U.S. Military triumphed over the Japanese, and ultimately, they paid dearly for that attack on Pearl Harbor.

Yesterday, social networking was alive with the remembrances of Pearl Harbor, and it was heartwarming to see so many honoring those whose lives were lost, those who were wounded, and those who waited at home. Today, News Corner USA wants to remind Americans the cost others have paid for the lives we live today. Is it so little to ask that we honor the sacrifices of those who have gone before us? To ask that we remember that the freedom and liberty each generation of Americans has been born with, does not come freely. We must take the responsibility of educating ourselves about:

• The founding and development of our nation;
• Why the Founding Fathers chose a republic over all other types of government;
• Study and fully understand the U.S. Constitution; and
• Why our Founding Fathers chose to found America on Judeo/Christian principles.

Each day you awaken, thank God for your life, and thank the men and women who draw that line in the sand that allow you and yours to sleep peacefully at night.

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Copyright 2013. All rights reserved by Candace E. Salima.