Let us never forget

Seventy-three years ago today, early in the morning, the United States became involved officially in World War Two, through the bombing of Naval Station Pearl Harbor, near Honolulu, Hawaii. Most people alive today weren't around then, and have only heard about this incident through history books and classes, and word-of-mouth. I am one of those people, but as a history buff, I cannot help but be interested, awed, humbled and frightened by that day.

Interested because it's history. Awed by the destruction. Humbled by the courage shown by our brave servicemen and -women that day. Frightened because I have seen similar terrorism against my country in my own time, and understand the feelings of fear and worry engendered by an incident like this.

Pearl Harbor, now Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, after a 2010 merger with the USAF's Hickam Air Force Base, the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet, was attacked with little warning. I say little because the American forces had determined that an attack on U.S. soil was likely, but didn't know where exactly. They thought perhaps it would be the Phillipines. Pearl Harbor was a surprise.

The loss at the time was staggering, and comparable to 9/11 of my own time. Nine U.S ships were sunk and 21 badly damaged. Of these, eight battleships were at the dock. Three were horribly damaged and the other five of these were sunk, including the battleship Arizona, which later became a memorial. 1,178 people were wounded, which includes 35 civilians. The death toll was, as I said, staggering. 2,403 dead, including 68 civilians, of which 1,177 were from the Arizona.

But WHY did the attack happen at all? In short, Japan felt constricted and needed oil. Yes, they attacked us over oil. Basically, it all started a little over a year earlier, in September 1940, after Japan took over what was then known as French Indochina, which was comprised of the three regions of Vietnam (Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina), Laos, Cambodia and Guangzhouwan). The U.S placed an embargo on Japan for steel, scrap iron and aviation fuel. In April 1941, the Japanese then signed a neutrality treaty with Russia, so that they could prevent an attack from that direction if they went to war with Britan or the U.S., while still taking a bigger chunk of Southeast Asia.

In June and July of 1941, Japan occupied southern Indochina. Within a few days, their assets were frozen by the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands, preventing Japan from buying oil, eventually crippling their army and making their navy and air force useless. As 1941 ground on, and the Soviets looked to be losing to the Axis powers, Japan tried to seize the oil reserves of southeast Asia. The American people were not willing to go to war to stop it, and the U.S. demanded that Japan leave China and Indochina, though the U.S would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory. Prior to December 1941, Japan had two potential courses. One was to continue to take the territory they wanted while getting the embargo lifted. The other was to wage war, as they thought the U.S. would be willing to fight, but not very long nor very hard, as they did not expect the U.S. to fight to win. Their decision to bomb Pearl Harbor was both a brilliant success and yet ensured their defeat at the same time.

I can only imagine the feelings of the people as they saw the fighter planes screaming overhead, with the Rising Sun of Japan prominent. They must have been terrified; I know I would have been. In a situation like that, for how can you not be? Our world is so full of hate and fear and so much negativity that bring about more fighting and terrorism. I often wonder why we can't all agree to disagree and just work instead on getting along. I doubt I will live long enough to ever see that day, so in it's place, let us never forget this day. Let us learn from it, so that someday, this kind of thing will forever be a thing of the past.

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