Infamy

Seventy years ago today, America stood strong in the face of incredible adversity, and never once blinked.  Socialism and Fascism were wreaking havoc all across Europe and near-East Asia, but it was Imperial Japan's deadly sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor on this date in 1941 that brought us fully into World War II.  Some 2400+ were killed in the dastardly attacks, but American Resolve had been awakened, and would ultimately pass this test with flying colors.  


Just over three and a half years later, we repaid Japan's aggression 100 times over, when the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to a speedy end.


Myself, I can't imagine the horror my parents and grandparents must have felt that Sunday morning so long ago.  Well, perhaps I can, what with the 9/11 attacks ten years ago.  Although American Resolve was awakened once again, the aftermath of 9/11 is to this day too bitterly entangled with left-wing politics to merit much comparison with the fallout from Pearl.

And of course it's a far different world today than it was 70 years ago.  Today, if the Muslim Brotherhood was able to mount a threat on a par with Nazi Germany, or the Imperial Empire of Japan, I rather doubt we could respond with the same alacrity and might the Greatest Generation was able to muster.  For one thing, we don't have half the manufacturing capability they had in 1941, any more.  For another, our national finances are in shambles, thanks to the Congressional / Wall Street money-orgies of the last 20 years.

About the only thing that aligns the two times on the same plane is our Resolve - which comes directly from the staunch service provided by our Military.  It's a pity that left-wing politics and "social engineering" has even permeated the Military, but such is our Brave New World.  Ironically, this was foreseen by two of the greatest Generals of WWII - Patton and Eisenhower.  


Patton saw how rotten politics would allow the Communists to run rampant, which they did for 40 years {there would have been no Korean or Vietnamese wars, Cuba's rise to prominence, or much of the Middle Eastern conflicts post-1947, had anyone paid attention}.  Eisenhower warned against a huge military-industrial complex, or the "commercialization" of warfare - which has made it easy for even the most tin-horn of terrorists to make jihad, or whatever, thanks to the bloated worldwide supplies of ordnance and associated materiel.  Both men felt that politics should be ceremonial only, after the fact of war; not during, or because of it.  


And history has proven both right, time and time again in the last 60 years.


However, all of this was still in the future on that awful Sabbath three-score and ten years ago today, when the Arizona pictured above met its' tragic end on the floor of that rather pretty harbor on Oahu.  The War that ensued touched virtually all of our family's lives one way or another, and the aftereffects are still being felt to this day.  My Dad and four Uncles all served, covering both Theaters, and every branch of the Military.  Only one Uncle was in service prior to Pearl - and he was fortunate to be on a carrier that day, instead of his customary battleship.  He never forgot that small quirk of Fate, nor did the rest of the family.

As for the rest of us though, we should never forget 12/7/1941, either.  It's still affecting all of us.

And it's still the Day of INFAMY.