`Remember Pearl Harbor’ remains relevant decades after attack
From the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Princeton, gliding to a berth in Pearl Harbor, the sunken battleship Arizona was clearly visible, seemingly just under the surface. Princeton crew members were manning the rails, a Navy tradition, as our ship entered Pearl Harbor.
The Arizona is perhaps the best recognized reminder of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – and other military installations both in Hawaii and around the Pacific – that pulled the isolationist United States into World War II. The Arizona sank at her berth on Battleship Row on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.
Japanese warplanes from aircraft carriers attacked Pearl Harbor and one dropped a bomb on the Arizona that penetrated the battleship into the magazines where ammunition is stored. The ship sank swiftly with over 1,100 sailors and officers trapped.
The Princeton paid tribute to the Arizona years prior to construction of the Arizona Memorial. Visitors are taken by boat to the memorial over the sunken battleship. I visited the memorial several years ago, and remembered being surprised by it all.
Standing on the memorial was a moving experience, but not as dramatic in my memory as seeing the Arizona from the flight deck of the Princeton, approximately 16 years after the attack we remember on Dec. 7.
ISOLATIONISM ENDED
Until Dec. 7, 1941, the United States was a nation of isolationism. A majority of members of Congress, reflecting Americans’ views, wanted to stay out of the war already on two fronts. Nazi Germany (allied with Italy) was almost two years into conquering Europe.
Japan had taken control of China and other important territory in the Pacific. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and many others sought without success to convince Congress to help Great Britain. An attack by Germany seemed more likely than by Japan.
In Japan, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto argued against the attack on Hawaii which he ultimately led. Yamamoto had spent time in the United States and warned the Japanese Imperial high command an attack would awaken a sleeping giant.
Yamamoto was correct. Six months after Pearl Harbor, America’s Greatest Generation was fully engaged in winning World War II – in Europe and North Africa, in the Pacific and at home building ships, airplanes, tanks and trucks 24/7 and making do with rationing.
In June 1942, the U.S. Navy won a decisive victory in the Battle of Midway, a turning point in the Pacific Theater. War continued three more years until Germany surrendered in May 1945 and Japan in August 1945. Japan formally surrendered on the battleship Missouri, now a museum at the opposite side of Pearl Harbor from the Arizona Memorial. The Arizona and the Missouri have been described as bookends to WWII in the Pacific.
FEW SURVIVORS TODAY
Sterling R. Cale, 98, is one of the few Pearl Harbor survivors. On Dec. 7, 1941, the 20-year-old pharmacist’s mate helped wounded men out of the harbor and retrieved dead bodies. He was a corpsman with the 1st Marine Division at Guadalcanal.
Pearl Harbor pulled the U.S. into a war Americans wanted no part of. Almost overnight, a generation of isolationism was over. WWII changed the world forever. After the war, we helped Germany and Japan rebuild. They are two of our strongest allies.
After years of effort, Congress made Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. By contrast, soon after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Sept. 11 was designated Patriot’s Day.
“Remember Pearl Harbor” was a national slogan during the war to keep Americans focused on the war effort. It remains relevant 79 years after the attack.
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D.G. Schumacher is a senior writer for The Sun News Editorial Board.