Pearl Harbor Remembered

As I sat contemplating the memories of Pearl Harbor, I realized that from baby boomers on down in age, this was history, not a life experience. Those born after World War two were for the most part unaffected by those experiences.

I was born in March of 1938 and was seven years old when the war ended, and 3 1/2 the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At the age I was, not a lot of detail was retained. One though, was. I witnessed adults running out into the streets expecting to see bombs falling from Japanese aircraft. That Japan did not have long range capability was ignored, even by our military.

Farragut was chosen for naval training, not because of the proximity of Lake pend Oreille, but the distance from the vulnerable pacific coast.

This generation along with mine, has 9/11 and the twin towers of New York City as an equally egregious attack, this time against civilians instead of military targets. The war against Japan ended finally, but will the war against Jihadists ever end?

There are only seven Pearl Harbor veterans left to attend their annual reunion. My generation will soon die off leaving Pearl Harbor as only an historical event, not touching many lives unless a grandfather was part of it. Still, we should remember Pearl Harbor as an example of our vulnerability.