12/7/41

 

The USS Arizona topples on Dec 7, 1941

Oh say can you see...

Hold up a sec. Sure, I'm a fairly patriotic type but this isn't some jingoistic post. For one thing, that's fairly gauche these days.

Still, it's Dec. 7 and that's an important -- is that the right word? -- day in our history.

Dec. 7. July 4. Nov. 22. Sept. 11. You should likely know what happened on each of those dates.

Dec. 7 of course is the date that will live in infamy. Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor at 7:55 that morning. The news began to percolate about a place that not everyone had ever heard of. WOR radio was airing a football game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants when they broke in.

Over on Columbia -- CBS -- John Daly reported the news of the attack, frequently mispronouncing "Oahu" as "Ohau."

I often marvel at that. Yes, there was TV -- WNBT, Channel 4, did have coverage -- but there weren't many sets in use (less than 10,000 per estimates of the day). So everyone else was reliant on the radio (and newspapers of course) and they didn't necessarily stay live 24/7. The West Coast states were told to turn all lights out after 7pm. In fact, they were completely blacked out.

Personally, I would have been pretty freaked out.

FDR brought the world infamy the next day. The word wasn't in the original speech. He smartly added it. On the other hand, he wasn't so smart when he signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of those of Japanese ancestry.

The next nearly four years carried young men to Europe and Asia. My family -- and likely yours -- went to war and, of course, many didn't come home.

My mind on this day drifts to those lost at Pearl Harbor. The astounding loss of 1,177 on the Arizona -- many of whom are forever interred there -- will forever sadden.

And, of course, produced great anger towards Japan. Thankfully we've moved past that.

My parents raised me to never forget Pearl Harbor and I don't.

Thus, when I pause for two minutes for a song that plays at the beginning of a sports event, it's in honor of the parents who taught me to be respectful. That's always been my reason and I'm hardly immune to having to tend to something that keeps me from being as rigid as I'd prefer to be.

But I stay until that last note. That's my thing. Doesn't mean anything more than that. You do you, of course. I do it for my parents and for a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in this country.

When I remember Pearl Harbor Day every Dec. 7, it's in honor of my father, who felt that we didn't pay the proper respect and attention that the day deserves.

It still does.