Never Forget Pearl Harbor, the Day That Will Live in Infamy
Today is the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, a “day which will live in infamy.” The US military ignored warnings saying the Japanese might attack until it was too late. As terrible as the tragedy seems looking back on it, I can only imagine how disastrous it seemed to people at the time, particularly to those who lost family in the attack. It shattered the illusion that Americans were safe on their own soil, and it thrust us into World War II.
“[History.com] Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.”
Recently, I heard somebody mention the Pearl Harbor attacks, and say “never again.” But do we really mean it? This time the enemy did not bomb a naval base in an open act of war. This time the enemy bought our politicians, and infiltrated our universities, and took away all of our manufacturing. I am speaking, of course, of the Chinese Communist Party. China was our ally against the Japanese in World War II, but we let China be taken over by the mass-murdering CCP, who told its people in 2019 it was at war with the US. And now we are letting the CCP make us into a satellite state.
So what does “never again” look like? Does it look like mere tokens of remembrance for the men who so tragically lost their lives on December 7, 1941? Or, like the men who rushed into battle in the Mexican-American War shouting “remember the Alamo,” will we remember the murder of Americans by refusing to allow our foreign enemies to destroy us from within?